Estonia v Slovenia background
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Article summary
Estonia and Slovenia met for the first time in their first official friendly fixtures since gaining independence, and are reunited in their UEFA EURO 2016 opener.
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Article body
Estonia and Slovenia met for the first time in their first official friendly fixtures since gaining independence. Now the Baltic side are eyeing a first home win against their guests in UEFA EURO 2016 Group E.
Match background
• Estonia's record in seven games against Slovenia is W1 D1 L5 (W0 D1 L2 as the home side – W1 D0 L3 in Slovenia). Their first victory came in the sides' most recent encounter, in Ljubljana on 2 September 2011.
• The sides first met in Tallinn on 3 June 1992, in what was Estonia's first game since the end of the Soviet Union – and Slovenia's first FIFA-recognised fixture (their 1-0 win against Croatia on 19 June 1991 being regarded as unofficial). Aleksandar Puštov's free-kick (7) put Uno Piir's Estonia in front but Igor Benedejčič's 73rd-minute header earned Bojan Prašnikar's Slovenia a 1-1 draw.
• Slovenia won 2-0 when the sides met in Ljubljana on 7 April 1993. It was Slovenia's first international victory, at the third attempt, with Samir Zulič and Sašo Udovič on target.
• Estonia and Slovenia's first competitive meetings were in EURO '96 qualifying. Under Zdenko Verdenik, Slovenia won 3-0 against Roman Ubakivi's Estonia in Ljubljana on 29 March 1995, Zlatko Zahovič (40), Primož Gliha (52) and Vladimir Kokol (90+3) scoring. It was Kokol's only goal for Slovenia.
• In the reverse fixture in Tallinn on 11 June 1995, Džoni Novak (38, 69) and Zahovič (80) responded after Martin Reim (26) had put the home side in front to earn a 3-1 victory for the visitors. They were the first two goals of Novak's international career – he was only to score three in 71 games for Slovenia.
• Most recently, the teams met in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying. On 12 October 2010 Andrei Sidorenkov's own goal (67) gave Matjaž Kek's Slovenia a 1-0 win. Tarmo Rüütli's Estionia has their revenge on 2 September 2011, Ats Purje (81) earning a 2-1 win in Ljubljana after Tim Matavž (78) had cancelled out Estonia's opener, Konstantin Vassiljev's 29th-minute penalty.
• The nations' clubs have met in eight UEFA competition games, the Slovenian side winning all eight fixtures.
