New Caledonia set international friendly against Estonia

New Caledonia stated recently they will be playing against Estonia in an international friendly match in the next March 26th. The Cagous are set to travel to Europe to face the Baltic country in their capital city Tallin. This will not be the first time the both national teams met, since they draw 1-1 in a tour the Estonian team did in Oceania in 2017 in a match played at Stade Numa Daly.

In 2017 match between the two teams, Henri Anier scored for the European side and Emile Ounei leveled for the Pacific Islanders just ten minutes after Estonia pulled ahead in the scoreline. This was a very tough match for the well ranked side – 103th in comparison with the New Caledonians currently sitting at 156th position – from the Baltic area.

In their previous match, many important players of Estonia were absent, as the former Liverpool defender Ragnar Klavan and the AIK – from the Sweden top-tier – player Karol Mets. The squad had few players playing outside Estonian league, not having the full force they usually play in the European competitions. The goal scorer in that date was one of the players in foreign land – Henri Anier was playing in Finland top-tier in that time, currently the forward is playing in South Korea and keep being called-up in Estonia national team.

Oceania and Estonia develop a good relationship in the past years: the nation come to a tour in 2017 where they played Vanuatu and New Caledonia and recently their U19 team took part in an invitational tournament played in Vanuatu, where they faced teams as New Caledonia, India and the home country.

It will be a rare opportunity for a South Pacific national team to travel for Europe to play a friendly match against a much stronger side. Apart from New Zealand, only youth squads from Oceania had the chance to play in European soil in the past years.