The Faroe Islands capitulated to their fifth defeat on the bounce at the hands of Moldova, thanks to a second-half goal from Vadim Rață.
In terms of team news, Landsliðið coach Håkan Ericson made four changes from Thursday’s defeat in Poland, with Brandur Olsen, Klæmint Olsen, Jákup Andreasen, and Andrass Johansen coming in for Sonni Nattestad, René Shaki Joensen, Sølvi Vatnhamar, and Hørður Askham. So Ericson opted for an attacking setup, with Jóan Símun Edmundsson and Klæmint Olsen starting up top, with Jóannes Bjartalíð playing in behind and a four-man backline.
The home side started brightly, with the changes and new look formation rejuvenating the team. And after just three minutes, Jóannes Bjartalíð hit the bar from a thunderous long-distance effort. The pressure continued, with the home side having 65-percent possession in the first quarter.
Moldova grew slowly into the game and would have taken the lead if not for a goal-saving block from Bjartalíð as the sides went into the break even.
However, just six minutes after the break, Moldova took the lead after Ion Nicolaescu breezed past Odmar Færø and laid the ball on a plate for Vadim Rață to stroke the ball home.
Moments later, goalkeeper Mattias Lamhuage kept Moldova from doubling with a wonder save from a Nicolaescu header.
Fifth in a row
The Faroe Islands huffed and puffed in pursuit of an equalizer, with a narrowly wide free-kick effort from Brandur Olsen and a header going just wide from Gunnar Vatnhamar after an exquisite Viljormur Davidsen cross, but parity wasn’t meant to be.
Despite having 73-percent possession of the ball—which might be a record for Faroe in a competitive match!—it mustered no shoots on target, as the home side looked sluggish and lacked an attacking edge, or any ideas to break down a resilient Moldovan defense.
Here are my player ratings:
23) Mattias Lamhauge — 8/10 (MOTM)
3) Viljormur Davidsen — 7/10 (C)
16) Gunnar Vatnhamar — 6.5/10
15) Odmar Færø — 6/10
14) Gilli Rólantsson — 6.5/10
21) Andrass Johansen — 6.5/10
22) Jakup Andreasen — 6.5/10
8) Brandur Olsen — 6.5/10
7) Jóannes Bjartalíð — 7/10
11) Klæmint Olsen — 5.5/10
9) Jóan Símun Edmundsson — 5.5/10
20) René Shaki Joensen (46th minute for Gilli Rólantsson) — 5.5/10
17) Hannes Agnarsson (64th minute for Jóan Símun Edmundsson) — 5/10
10) Sølvi Vatnhamar (64th minute for Andrass Johansen) — 5/10
13) Hørður Askham (80th minute for Jakup Andreasen) — N/A
18) Stefan Radosavljevic (80th minute for Klæmint Olsen) — N/A
Coach Håkan Ericson — 6/10. Had good intentions with the attacking-minded lineup, but this sadly played into the hands of attack on the break tactic of Moldova. The Faroe Islands also lacked any real attacking patterns of play, preferring hopeful and generally harmless crosses into the Moldovan box. In addition, the substitutes made were quite bizarre and ineffective.
Despite being ranked 35th places lower, Moldova are a team on the rise, with just one loss in their last six fixtures. On the other hand, the Faroe Islands now have five defeats in a row, and the hope of breaking the top 100 UEFA rankings looks like a distant dream.
Next up for Landsliðið is a home match against Poland on the 12th of October at 19:45 BST.
