Preview: Iceland vs. Estonia - prediction, team news, lineups

Iceland take on Estonia in an international friendly match at Estadio da Nora, Portugal, on Sunday.

The two nations have not competed against each other since another friendly fixture in March 2015, which ended 1-1 on the day.

Match preview

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After missing out on qualification for the recent World Cup in Qatar, Iceland manager Arnar Vidarsson has clearly decided his squad need more time on the pitch together if they are to bounce back by qualifying for the European Championships in Germany next summer.

Having enjoyed the heady heights of qualifying for their first ever competitive international tournaments at Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018, there is little doubt that Iceland have regressed in recent times, finishing second from bottom in their World Cup qualifying group before missing out on promotion from the second tier of the Nations League.

As such, with friendlies against Estonia and Sweden scheduled for the week ahead in the warmer climate of Portugal, Vidarsson will be looking for some of his fringe players to impress him given that the majority of his key players are unavailable due to competing for their clubs domestically.

Considering that Estonia are ranked 46 places below them in the FIFA World Rankings, anything short of a victory against them on Sunday would be considered a huge disappointment for the Vikings.

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Indeed, considering that they have never qualified for an international tournament in their entire history, Estonia must have looked at their forthcoming opponents with serious envy in recent years.

The closest the Blueshirts came was finishing second in their qualifying group for Euro 2012, but a heavy 4-0 defeat at home to Republic of Ireland in the first leg of their playoff quickly evaporated any hopes of them making it to Ukraine and Poland that year.

Estonia gained only one point from eight matches when attempting to qualify for the multi-national Euro 2020, so they will be hoping for significant improvement this time around under Thomas Haberli - who has been in charge since January 2021 - when the Euro 2024 qualifiers begin in March.

Clearly, then, the forthcoming fixtures against Iceland and Finland should prove to be a decent indicator as to how ready they are for their competitive matches ahead, especially given that they have been paired in a tricky group alongside Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Azerbaijan.

Team News

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Only six of Iceland's 22-man squad are in double digits in terms of caps for their countries, with the likes of Johann Berg Gudmundsson of Burnley and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson of Bolton Wanderers unavailable for selection.

Only two players are aged 30 or older, too, suggesting Vidarsson is likely to utilise a youthful looking starting XI against Estonia on Sunday.

Estonia, on the other hand, have been able to call upon more experienced players, with 100-plus capped Konstantin Vassiljev and Sergei Zenjov both set to add to their impressive tallies.

However, there are 12 potential debutants in Vidarsson's squad, so there are likely to be plenty of professionals keen to impress at the weekend regardless of it being a friendly.

Iceland possible starting lineup:

Schram; Olafsson, Palsson, Gunnlaugsson, Muminovic; Traustason, Sigurdsson, Magnusson, Andrason; Gudjohnsen, Djuric

Estonia possible starting lineup:

Meerits; Teniste, Kallaste, Ojamaa, Peetson; Vassiljev, Miller, Marin, Poom, Soomets; Zenjov

We say: Iceland 1-1 Estonia

With Estonia able to name more experienced players than Iceland, we can envisage a share of the spoils in Portugal on Sunday in what is likely to be a low tempo affair.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.