Karl Hein puts in heroic performance for Estonia to frustrate wasteful Wales

Estonian fans will be delighted with how their team played on Wednesday evening, but it was the goalkeeping performance of 19-year-old shot-stopper Karl Hein that would’ve impressed them the most.

Standing just shy of two meters tall, the big Estonian put in a man-of-the-match performance to deny Wales the opportunity of jumping into second place in the qualifying group and strengthen their chances of getting a home semi-final play-off spot.

Wales almost had the perfect start after just 40 seconds when Chris Gunter torpedoed his way past the Estonian back-line before putting the ball on a plate for Harry Wilson, however, Hein did enough to put the Fulham winger off and saw his shot go wide of the near post.

With that being Wales’ best chance of the first half, it didn’t mean that the young goalkeeper wasn’t busy. The Arsenal man utilised his great aerial ability to deny any high balls into the box and with the absence of Kieffer Moore, Hein was able to collect the ball with ease every time.

The Red Wall would’ve been in disbelief at how their side wasn’t able to take the lead within the first 15 minutes of the second half. Gareth Bale forced Hein into a brilliant, quick-reaction save after he’d sent a powerful header at the near post, and the youngster was on hand again to stop Tyler Roberts from scoring his first goal for Wales as he came out on top in a one-on-one situation.

On Sunday, Bale scored his first goals for Wales since 2019 after a superb hat-trick against Belarus in Kazan. Nevertheless, the Gunner in goal was in no mood to allow Bale to score again with a huge save in the 83rd minute which found its way back to the Real Madrid star but his header rattled against the post.

The Baltic side will have been relieved to hear the final whistle but would also have been delighted with undoubtedly one of their best results in recent years and to come away from Cardiff with a clean sheet will live long in the memory of everyone associated with the Estonian national team.

With Hein securing his 11th cap against Wales, it seems that the youngster will be looking to be Estonia’s all-time record cap holder which is currently occupied by the former national team’s manager, Martin Reim with 157 caps.

The teenager has played multiple times for Arsenal’s U23 side since arriving from Nomme United in 2018 and played in the senior team’s pre-season fixtures against Hibernian and Rangers. However, Hein currently finds himself behind Bernd Leno, Aaron Ramsdale and Arthur Okwonko in the pecking order.

The goalkeeper was on the bench for Arsenal’s first Premier League game of the season against Brentford, still, he will find first-team hard to come by and will have to rely on cup competitions to get a sniff of action with the Gunners.

With the Estonian’s contract expiring in the summer, there will definitely be a few enquiries regarding his availability, especially after his performance against the Red Dragons. Showing great maturity at such a young age, there really is hope for Estonian football in the form of Karl Hein.

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