Estonia left-back Artur Pikk had played five minutes of international football before Sunday's Euro 2016 qualifier against England. Yet he lined up against Wayne Rooney and co, put in more than a decent shift against Premier League stars and ... had to report back to the Estonian army barracks by midnight.
Army service is compulsory in Estonia for all males and, while top athletes don't have to serve the standard eight months, they are obliged to undertake a crash course lasting three months.
Pikk began his course on Sept. 29 -- but that would not have been the case had the Estonian FA realised that, a couple of weeks later, he would be required for a different type of national service.
The 21-year-old had been selected as part of Estonia's preliminary squad of 30 players for the qualifiers against Lithuania and England, but only as a third-choice left-back.
It was highly unlikely he would be needed, so he started the army service in order to be home by Christmas, and was allowed to train with his club, Levadia Tallinn, a couple of times a week, although the army drills took priority.
However, fellow Estonia left-back Taijo Teniste got injured last week and, after Ken Kallaste was sent off against Lithuania, coach Magnus Pehrsson had to file a request to the Estonian Defence Forces for Pikk to be released from the barracks to prepare for the match against England.
Permission was granted, and Pikk -- whose only previous experience had come in a five-minute cameo against Tajikistan in June -- joined up with the squad on Friday evening, trained on Saturday and saw his place in the starting lineup confirmed on Sunday morning.
"He lived up to expectations," Pehrsson said after the 1-0 defeat. "I had to make a decision on whether to put Artur in the starting lineup because of his inexperience, but I chose him ahead of [30-year-old Dmitri] Kruglov because he has performed very consistently at club level throughout the season."
Pikk was delighted with the occasion but not with the result. "The match was tough for me because I am not able to train on a football pitch on a daily basis at the moment," he said after the game. "I'll have to be back at the barracks by midnight and the wake-up call is at 6 a.m."