Olympics - Who to watch out for Estonia and GB

Only a few weeks to go now to London 2012 here is a quick short guide to Estonia and GB medal hopes.

  Estonia

 Last Olympics Estonia won a gold and a silver medal. The silver was in Double Sculls (rowing). Jüri Jaanson has now retired so can Estonia find another Double Sculls team to equal last time? The gold was won by Gerd Kanter who is competing again! He won it in the discus. He has won the silver in both the European and World Championship in the past couple of years. So he could be there or there abouts and should be achieving a medal of some sorts.

 Other events that Estonia have won medals (since independence in 1991).

 Cycling - 1 Gold Medal ('92). Maybe Tanel Kangert be selected and follow up from his Tour De Suisse stage win?
  Judo - 3 Bronzes ('00, '04). Martin Padar is the choice for Estonia this time round. He came 17th in Beijing but came 3rd in the European Championships last year.
  Sailing - Bronze ('92). Johannes Ahun and Denis Karpak(who came 6th in the European Championships) So there are some names and sports to look out for... maybe there will be a few medals from here?

Or maybe a sport will come back to the fore front for Estonia such as Weightlifting or Wrestling which they won medals for in the 1920s. The Estonian Olympic team can be found on their website (in Estonian) at http://www.eok.ee/london2012 


Team GB(or officially : United Kingdom of Great Britain and N. Ireland. Don't ask me why its not Team UK?!).

 In Beijing GB won 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze. (Or if you want to compare medals with population then if GB had same population as Estonia we would probably have one medal.. Beijing Golds were in (along with some... not all... hopefuls) :


Archery - Larry Godfrey won Gold in European championships.
Athletics - Mo Farah won 5k and 10k races at the European Championships. Can he follow from there? Boxing - Nicola Adams won gold in the European Championships
Cycling - Maybe Bradley Wiggins who is competing at the Tour de France at the moment. Rowing - However GB only got bronze in the Double Sculls... behind Estonia Sailing - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won in Beijing can they repeat the feat again?
Swimming - Rebecca Adlington won 2 golds at Beijing and will be competing again
 Also there will be a GB football team (who over 100 years ago did win gold!) , but will they be beaten by teams such as Switzerland (who have had not to send anyone to the Euros). We will see... And maybe the women's team will do better than the men's... Team GB can be found here http://www.teamgb.com/

 Finally if anyone is going to London during the Olympics then check out the National Hospitality Houses where various events will be going on, with food, music, cultural events with chances to watch the different events there also. There is no Estonian house unfortunately but if you want to check out the rest then goto: http://www.londontown.com/London/Olympic-National-Hospitality-Houses

Tour De Suisse

The cycling race through Switzerland came to a close. The Portuguese cyclist Faria Da Costa beat Schleck (Luxembourgish) to be first overall. However it was Kangert of Estonia who won the 9th and final stage, winning points at various places so coming 3rd in the points total with Sagan (Slovakian) coming top.

The first stage of the race started in Lugano , South Switzerland near the Italy border. It then headed west and around the border to the north past Aarau (stage 5). I have put together some pics from the webcam which shows the ride from just outside of Aarau over the hills and down to Frick.

The Tour then went east again. Then stage 7 more in the middle round Gossau, then back to round the border for stage 8 to Arosa. Then finally:  stage 9 which Kangert won through the middle of Switzerland from Näfels-Lintharena to Sörenberg. All route maps, times etc can be found at www.tourdesuisse.ch, in German, French and English. Also the article about stage 9 can be found here
The final km of the 9th stage can be viewed here:

This photo of Kangert winning the stage... along with other photos can be found here (Steephill.tv website)

Here and not so here

(oder hier und nicht so hier)

In this, my hushed house

catacombed castle
long lost kingdom
overgrown land
and secluded keep
my mind is drifting...

elsewhere.

On novel adventures

exploring unknown shores
mysterious landscapes
the next bend in the road
where ever you may be
that is my roam sweet home.



by Ian (Photo by Ian too)

U19 Groups in Estonia

The groups were drawn on the 6 June for the U19 Football Tournament in Estonia.


Group A contains:
Estonia
Portugal
Greece
Spain


Played in Haapsalu and Tallinn


Group B contains:
Serbia
France
England
Croatia


Played in Haapsalu, Rakvere and Tallinn


The first games are on the 3 July and more details can be found:
Estonian: http://www.jalgpall.ee/u19em/


English: http://www.uefa.com/under19/index.html




May the best team win (or England ;) )

Draw and more details of Estonian Finals

The draw to decide on the groups is to be held in Tallinn on 6th June.

More details on this and on past events can either be found on:

The Uefa U19 website - with videos, news, group standings, stats....  (in English)

or the Estonian FA U19 Tournament website - with pictures, news and news on the Estonian National Team (in Estonian).

And Who Qualifies for Estonia Finals?

England U19 v Switzerland U19

(Interesting fact is that Switzerland used to play the same tune as England for sporting events. Although of course had different lyrics instead of God Save the Queen. They changed in the 1980s so no confusion tonight).


This was always going to be an interesting match. If England won then Montenegro would have to be Slovenia by at least 2 more than England beat Switzerland. If Switzerland won then they would hope Slovenia would stop Montenegro winning.

A warm day turned to heavy rain showers, but people still queued up at the ticket office to get in. The match was even delayed 15 mins to let people in.

The match started off with England a little bit stronger , physically and possibly mentally than Switzerland. However after the first 10/15 mins the Swiss gradually came back into the game using their skillful wingers.
They had quite a few chances some missing the target and the others being saved by the local lad Sam Johnstone. One being a run down the wing by the Swiss number 7 (Khelifi I think) who took on the defence and managed to get passed most of them but luckily (for the English) didn't produce a goal.  England had a few chances but they were mainly charged down by the Swiss.

In the second half the Swiss seemed to still be on top, however England had a few shots that were spilt by the Swiss keeper (Brecher). England had a chance with a cross over but Kane couldn't quite get to the ball. 

Switzerland kept on going for the goal and there were a few volleys and chances that still went begging or blocked or saved. Unfortunately for England Will Keane twisted his knee chasing a ball into the box. This brought Beranhino on. Another incident where a Swiss player got accidentally punched by the England goalie... whilst he was clearing the ball, and a few minutes later an England player was down in the centre circle. This called for even more stoppage time.

Meanwhile I checked the score in the other game... 0v0 still.

As time drew on Swiss tried to push harder for a goal, as it looked like the other game had finished at 0v0...
but no wait
The internet is not always right and the final score finally came through showing that Slovenia had actually scored and won 1v0. This was game on now for the Swiss.

They had a few minutes left and pushed but this left gaps at the back for the English, who either didn't know of the other score or decided that the best defence is to attack. The fatal blow coming in the 94th minute with the sub Berahino scored at the near post. Two Swiss players fell to the floor as they knew it was all over, even if they did try for the last minute or so.

The Swiss were unfortunate, and probably did not deserve to lose the game but left the space at the back to try and get that winning goal.
Attendance: 3266

Local paper review is here including a picture of the goalscorer and also the player with the best haircut: Swiss No. 13 Martin Angha. Angha was one of the cool calmed defenders who wouldn't always just hoof the ball out but played their way out of trouble.


This meant the table finished:
England 7pts
Montenegro 4pts
Switzerland 3pts
Slovenia 3pts

Only the top team qualifies for the Estonian finals so only England went through. They were joined by France  (who had Netherlands in their group) , Serbia (who sneaked past Germany),  Greece, Croatia, Spain (who were ahead of Italy).
There is one last game to go: Portugal v Ukraine, both on even pts.The winner qualifies (or a draw for Portugal).

No Finland so no clashes of Anthems there!

Next stop July
Next stop  Eesti - Estonia - Estland..



*** Update *** - Portugal comfortably beat Ukraine 3v0 (1v0 half time) to be the last country to qualify.

Photos by Ian , Videos from Youtube


.

U19s Part 2

Today Switzerland played Slovenia at Preston in the sun. Both had lost their first game in the group, but it was Switzerland who controlled the first half.  The Swiss left winger enjoyed some long balls from all angles including right back position. He seemed not to be marked and free reign to run and cross the ball into the box. The Swiss were quick to close down the opposition and had very good first time control. In the first half they managed to get two goals through Kleiber and Schmidt. In the second half it seemed Slovenia tried a little harder, but also maybe the uncharicteristic weather made the players wilt a little. However the Swiss still defended well and the end result was 2v0.

Report (in Deutsch) hier

Later in the day England played Montengro at Rochdale...
Report here.

The final score being 1v1 after England equalising late.

This leaves an interesting table with both Montengro and England on 4pts and Switzerland on 3pts (Slovenia 0). With any of these 3 in a chance of going through as the top team. England play Switerland at Preston on Wednesday and the other two teams at Rochdale at the same time.... only time will tell who goes to Estonia!

Photos by Ian, Video from youtube