Narrow defeat for Latvia

Estonia 2 Latvia 1

Latvia’s faint hopes of securing a spot in the play-offs for the World Cup finals were virtually extinguished as they slipped to a narrow Group 3 defeat against Estonia in Tallinn.

With both sides now on 14 points with two games remaining, they appear too far adrift of leaders Portugal and second-placed Slovakia to have any chance of qualifying and now have little more than pride to ply for.

An Estonia goal in each half did the damage, Andres Oper netting early on before Maksim Smirnov added the killer second with 20 minutes remaining.

Juris Laizans managed a last-minute effort for the Latvians but it proved nothing more than a consolation.

In front of a full house at the Le Coq Arena, Torpedo Moscow’s Oper gave the hosts the perfect start by breaking the deadlock in the 11th minute.

The striker crashed the ball past Aleksandrs Kolinko in the Latvia goal after a long throw was poorly cleared by the visitors’ defence.

After squandering a host of clear-cut chances to add to their lead, most notably through Oper and Kristen Viikmae, Smirnov finally put breathing space between the two sides by grabbing the second.

The midfielder ran onto a long through-ball and raced clear of the Latvian defence before skirting the challenge of the onrushing Kolinko and tapping home into an empty net.

Having kept the away side at bay for 89 minutes, with Andrei Stepanov particularly impressive at the heart of Estonia’s backline, Latvia did manage to pull one back as the match approached stoppage time when Laizans thundered a long-range effort off the upright and into the net.

But Estonia held on to claim their first victory over their Baltic neighbours since the two countries regained their independence following the disbanding of the Soviet Union in 1991.