Faroes beat Turkey 2-1

He had been waiting for this.

When the Ukrainian referee blew the final whistle at the Tórsvøllur national stadium, Faroese head coach Håkan Ericson did a somersault on the sideline.

The Swede had led the Faroese national men’s football team to an impressive and well-deserved win against a big football nation that’s ranked 83 places above his team.

Flawless performance by all

On the pitch, Viljormur Davidsen and Joan Simun Edmundsson were the big stars, giving the hosts a two-goal lead early in the second half.

However, the big result was due to every single player on the Faroese team performing at his very best.

Turkey pulled one goal back one minute from the final whistle, but the Faroese players held on to secure a historic win against a nation which finished third in the World Cup 20 years ago.

Aggressive style throughout

The Faroese side had decided on an uncharacteristically aggressive style for this game.

“We discussed at half time whether we should continue with our aggressive push, and the players agreed that we should,” Ericson said after the game.

“They said that this aggressive style of playing gave them extra energy.”

Safe from relegation

The Faroes now have eight points in the UEFA Nations League group C1 and are safe from relegation.

Turkey leads the group with 13 points, followed by Luxembourg with 11.

At the bottom of the group sits Lithuania, which drew 1-1 with the Faroes in Thursday’s game in Vilnius.

Tórsvøllur (Nations League)

Faroe Islands - Turkey 2-1 (0-0)

1-0: Viljormur Davidsen, 51 min.

2-0: Jóan Símun Edmundsson, 58 min.

2-1: Serdar Gürler, 89 min.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.