Already on Thursday, our team will face an opponent of a completely different breed – the Swiss football giant “Young Boys”, who played the world sports heavyweight “Manchester United” on their field last September.
Wonder wand
In their sixth Eurocups season, the Liepaja team remained true to themselves in two respects. Even though our team overcame the first qualification round of international tournaments for the fourth time, it mostly happened in extremely difficult battles.
In addition, “Liepāja” has the hardest time in the games at home – 3:1 against the Kosovans is only the second success in nine home games.
The two games against the representatives of Europe’s youngest country were very similar to each other. In both first halves, the duel between the teams could be called equal, and in both first halves we wanted to see a better quality performance from “Liepāja”.
Perhaps it was hindered from showing the specific football of the Balkans with the suppression and jerking of the pace of the game.
In the Liepāja match, it was characterized by the guests’ theatrical demonstrations on the lawn of the “Daugava” stadium after contact with Liepaja residents.
There was hope that our team would be better prepared to fight against this style of football, because this summer the team was supplemented by several footballers with nominally good knowledge of the Kosovo League (there is the brilliant Mankenda), Albanian football (Deliu) and Balkan football in general (Bosnians Hrelic and Radovic).
In the second half, the team’s head coach, Tamazs Pertija, raised the quality bar with substitutions, sending the footballers who have already played in the team to the field. On the other hand, this summer’s newcomers are still expected to perform in a way that would justify their recruitment.
In Pristina (0:1), Vilela was the main breaker of the match (but not the result), while in Liepāja (3:1) – Karašausks and Belakovičs.
The hero of the 2017 summer Eurocups Kara became the miracle stick of “Liepāja” this year as well.
He scored a goal from the 11-meter mark and two assists – after a long-range kick that grazed the crossbar of “Gjilani” and earned a 11-meter penalty kick.
Although the results of the two games are different, they were united by the superiority of “Liepāja” not only in the sum of two games (3:2), but also a slight advantage in ball control, shots on goal and in terms of created attacks.
Title at end of title
On Thursday evening, the Latvian football community rejoiced that all four clubs of our country are continuing the Eurocup season. I would like to hope that the same mood will prevail in the stands of stadiums and on social networks on the evening of July 28. However, judging objectively, it is “Liepāja” that is the most realistic candidate for the reduction of the number of Latvian clubs in UEFA 2021/22. in the season of the year.
Even assuming that beating “Gjilani” combined with the composition of the team will become a starting point for FK “Liepāja” on the way to the heights of success, the Swiss Super League bronze medalist’s shell is extremely hard.
Even Manchester United, whose success in some English and European tournaments in recent years has also been interspersed with protracted squad building, was not able to do so in one match less than a year ago.
Young Boys, the 15-time champion of Switzerland, ranks 46th in the European club ranking, one position behind AC Milan.
The Bernese team in the Alpine country is not only one of the historically strongest teams, but has dominated its league in recent years – the championship title was won in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Two-thirds of the players in the extended squad are Swiss, while a large part of the foreign legion are relatively young Africans.
Modern football is a business, and the young guys this is clearly confirmed – the club tries to buy footballers cheaply by European standards (deals up to a few million euros) and sell them at a profit.
For an insight, the 25-year-old midfielder of the Luxembourg national team Christopher Martins Pereira, who was bought three years ago from Lyon “Olimpique” for 2 million euros, has just been sold for 6.4 million to the Moscow club “Spartak”, which rented the footballer since January of this year.
US national team striker Jordan Siebachs was bought by Bernese from another French club “Stade Rennais” last year for two and a half million, while Berlin “Union” cost 6 million to attract him this summer.
The total market value of “Young Boys” footballers in the “Transfermarket” version is 58.1 million euros, but center midfielder Fabian Rieder (8 million) alone is more expensive than the entire composition of the football club “Liepāja” (6.71).
Balance of power
Summer is the time when Western European clubs are still preparing for the new season. “Young Boys” played their last official match until Saturday on May 22, when they defeated “Grasshoppers” 3-0. On the other hand, on July 16, our opponents defeated the “Zurich” team 4:0 at home.
However, our opponents have not been completely without game practice, because since the end of June they have been actively playing test duels with Swiss, German and Ukrainian clubs. The Bern team won twice in these matches, but three games ended in a draw.
This season, “Liepāja” continues to expand the geography of international games of our city’s football teams. Kosovo became the 24th country whose representatives Liepāja met in the Eurocups, and Switzerland – the 25th.
In a way, “Young Boys” can be compared with “Salzburg” of Austria, which tested “Liepäja” in the second qualifying round of the Champions League in its Eurocup debut in 2016. Even then, ours didn’t have many chances to win the sum of two games, however, only 0:1 in the away team made the rich red bulls to respect the recently established (or renovated) team from the shores of the Baltic Sea. In Liepāja, the hosts conceded 0:2, and it can still be said that our team fought respectably against such impressive rivals.
The club should wish for something similar this year against the team from Bern.
If “Liepāja” sensationally wins the Swiss team “Young Boys”, then the Finnish team “KuPS” represented by former Liepaja player Jānis Ikaunieks or Orheja “Milsami” from Moldova will meet in the third round.
FOR REFERENCE
| FK “Liepāja” | “Young Boys” | |
| Foundation year | 2014. | 1898. |
| Stadium | “Daugava” | “Wankdorf Stadium” |
| State champions | 1 | 15 |
| Cup winners 2 6 | 2 | 6 |
| Games in the Eurocups | 18 | 268 |
| Head coach | Tamaz Perthia | Raphael Wickey |
| Player value | 6.71 million | 58.10 million |
| Football players of the national team | 6 | 11 |
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