Estonia vs Belgium

Tallinn’s A. Le Coq Arena is the venue as Estonia and Belgium meet in contrasting Euro 2024 Group F circumstances.

You’d need to go back to September 2015 for Estonia’s last win in the European Championship qualifiers, with a 1-1 draw away to Azerbaijan in the previous round extending their wait for a victory in the competition to 13 matches (D2, L11). Following an underwhelming two-game start to their Group F journey (D1, L1), the Estonians must get the better of section favorites Belgium to reignite their faint hopes of reaching a maiden major international tournament. However, that’s a Herculean task, especially considering the hosts have been on the receiving end in seven of their eight meetings with Belgium (W1), including four defeats on the bounce by a combined score of 18-4! It’s also worth noting that Estonia ended on the wrong side of a 5-2 scoreline in their last home H2H in September 2021.

On the other hand, Belgium couldn’t have hoped for a better start to their qualifying campaign, sweeping Sweden aside with a thumping 3-0 win away from home. However, Fernando Santos battled back from a 1-0 halftime deficit only to hold Austria to a 1-1 home draw last week, meaning they commence this round only one point clear of third-placed Sweden. Despite being deemed group favorites, the Belgians’ effort to qualify for a third successive European Championship is not a foregone conclusion. But they should still take home an all-important three points here after emerging victorious in their last eight Euro qualifiers on hostile turf. Moreover, their last 58 qualifying games for European and World Championships have yielded only two losses (W45, D11)!