Scoutmania

Faroes Islands won the first round of the UEFA U21 Championship Qualifiers (Group 3) by scoring a penalty in the last minute of the match against Estonia (2-1 the final result). A game largely controlled on the ball by the Estonian side which lost a good opportunity to collect points.

The two teams ‘mirrored’ each other in a 1-4-4-2 formation.

Faroes Islands, coached by Ólavur Mikkelsen, spent major periods of the match defending in a compact low block (see image below).

They pressed high on goal-kicks by bringing their two strikers at the edge of the box supported by one of the two central midfielders to regain possession in the opposition half (see image below).

They were dangerous on free-kicks from wide delivered by Áki Samuelsen with great pace and accuracy. And they tried to gain momentum by Thorleifsson delivering long throw-ins in the opposition penalty box.

They scored the first goal capitalizing on a mistake of the opposition goalkeeper and won the game in the last minute of the match on a penalty scored by Samuelsen.

Estonia, coached by the Finnish specialist Jani Sarajärvi, had the highest percentage of ball possession (in the opposition half) but could not produce many chances. They went in front (0-1) with Kalju’s midfielder Siht who followed Sillamaa ball progression and finished the offensive action with a shot from close range.

They used a very interesting strategy on their offensive goal-kicks by ‘shuffling’ their back four towards their left side to create an overload against the opposition right chain (see the next two image below).

In positional attacks they played around the opposition defensive block by taking up intermediate positions with their wingers in wide areas between the opposition full-backs and wingers (see image below).

Here the two players who stood out in this match:

Ingi Arngrímsson (Faroe Islands / Víkingur), centre-back born 2006.

Ingi is a tall and smart centre-back with great game reading and playmaking skills. He made decisive interventions in his own penalty box to stop dangerous attacks by intercepting crosses which could have led to clear chances. Strong in aerial and 1v1 duels.

I would strongly recommend Ingi for Primavera 1 (mid- to top-table) Clubs in Italy but also for 1st team football in Danish 1st division (2nd tier) / Allsvenskan / Eliteserien (bottom to mid-table).

Rommi Siht (Estonia / Kalju FC), central midfielder born 2006.

Rommi is a box-to-box midfielder with good physique and running capacity. Strong in aerial and physical challenges. Scored the goal for Estonia by a late run in the box and a calm finish. Good spatial awareness when receiving under pressure, able to play at 1-2 touches.

He is a great profile for top Clubs in Finland in 1-2 years and can be relevant for Superliga top 6 teams within the next 3 years.

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