Estonian star admits defeat

Estonia's solitary foreign star Marek Lemsalu is chasing promotion to the Bundesliga with FSV Mainz 05.

But the defender concedes that his country has now even less chance of beating Scotland in the re-arranged World Cup tie in Monaco next month.

The midfielder admitted yesterday: "It was always going to be difficult to get the victory needed to sustain our hopes.

"In Tallin we would have had the backing of a big support. But in France there will be very few Estonian fans to lift us.

"Scotland have had many injury problems yet still made a very impressive start to their campaign. but we are still not strong enough to win.

"I saw their performances in Euro 96. They were impressive, physically and tactically and were unlucky not to reach the quarter- finals.

"Our football has not yet developed to the stage where we can compete against such opponents.

"I feel we are not strong enough to beat the Scots.

"Under our Icelandic coach Teitur Tordarsson we have progress but there is still a long way to go."

Tordarsson has had his players in a training camp in Cyprus for the past two months to prepare for the Scots.

In that time they have played warm-up games against Polish cracks Legia Warsaw and the Lebanon.

He said:"We have become stronger as a unit because of the spirit built up here. It takes a very special person to handle such a long spell in this environment.

"The mood is good but I agree with Lemsalu that only our best will be good enough to get any result against Scotland. They are a very good side as their results show."

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