On Thursday, the Latvian men’s national football team played a draw 0: 0 (0: 0) with Andorra in the first game of the Division D of the League of Nations (UEFA).
Head coach Dainis Kazakevičs and midfielder Alvis Jaunzems made their debut in the Latvian national team.
Already in the fifth minute of the game after Vladislav Fjodorovu Latvia was able to execute a penalty. The first standard situation was entrusted to Jānis Ikaunieks, whose system the ball flew a little past the right goal post. Ten minutes later, Andreja Cigaņika’s Ikaunieks penalty shot was very well placed but Hoseps Gomess went the right way, blocking it spectacularly.
The Latvians earned a corner kick after which Kaspars Dubra headed the ball over the goal. The attacks on the visitors’ goal continued to subside, until Fyodorov hit dangerously from the middle distance in the 30th minute, but eight minutes later Vladislav Gutkovskis hit him in the head. In the last minute of the half, after the pass of Roberts Savaļnieks, the safety of the opponents was threatened again by Fyodorov.
After the first half, the active Fyodorvs was replaced by Roberts Uldriķis, thus Latvia had two tall attackers ahead of him. In the 54th minute of the game, Uldriķis easily hit the post after a pass from Eduards Emsis.
A little later was the next turn, because Gutkovskis was knocked down in the penalty area. 56 minutes into the game, a swerving free kick by Gomess almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the shot glanced harmlessly off the frame of the goal. In the 68th minute, Ikaunieks almost put the ball in the net, but before that the penalty was broken.
In the 71st minute of the match, Gutkovskis, in response to the opponent’s provocation, hit him and was dismissed from the field, thus Latvia remained among the ten men. Nine minutes later, Savaļnieka’s Cigaņiks hit the ball with his head and hit the post.
At the beginning of the last ten minutes, Alvis Jaunzems scored twice to the front, where Uldriķis was, but the Latvian striker was a little short of a dangerous shot at least in one of the episodes. At the last minute of the regular time, after Savaļnieks’s pass, the ball hit from the corner of the goal and reached Ikaunieks, but his long-range broadcast was neutralized by the opposing footballer. Andorra saved the result in the last minutes.
The match ended dramatically, in which Latvia’s next opponent Malta lost to the Faroe Islands team 2: 3 (1: 1).
In the first half, the host Klēmints Olsen and the guest Jirgens Degabriele exchanged goals, but in the 73rd minute Andrejs Āgiuss put Malta in the lead. The Maltese were close to winning, but in the 87th minute Andreas Olsen equalized the result, but at the end of the regular time Branudrs Olsen reached 3: 2 in favor of the Faroe Islands.
The Latvian national team played their last game on November 19 last year, when they surprised Austria 1: 0 in the final match of the European Championship qualification tournament.
Previously, the state unit had suffered 15 losses in a row, but on Thursday did not take the opportunity to celebrate its second success in a row for the first time since 2016.
Meanwhile, the Andorran team had their last match on November 17, when they lost to Turkey in the qualifying tournament of the European Championship with 0: 2. Previously, the Andorrans played a 2: 2 draw with Albania, but even before that they lost 0: 2 to Iceland. The last victory was won by the Andorran team against Moldova (1: 0).
The two teams met eight times. The last two duels were only played in the 2018 League of Nations tournament, with both matches ending without a goal scored. Earlier in the 2018 World Cup qualification tournament, Latvians won with 4: 0 and 1: 0.
Latvia ranks 137th in the FIFA rankings, while Andorra is two positions higher.
Three days after the duel with Andorra, a game against Malta is planned for the away team.
The winner of the first group of the League of Nations D will secure a place in the C league of the next season or in the third level by force. The weakest national teams in the D league play.
The second game in the League of Nations in September will also be the last for the Latvian national team, but on October 7 a test match is planned with the Montenegrin national team. Three days later, in the League of Nations, a trip to the Faroe Islands will take place, but on October 13, the Maltese team will visit Latvia.
The composition of the Latvian national football team for the match with Andorra:
Pavels Steinbors, Raivis Jurkovskis, Kaspars Dubra, Antonijs Chernomordijs, Roberts Savaļnieks, Eduards Emsis, Artūrs Zjuzins (Mārtiņš Ķigurs, 81 min.), Vladislavs Fjodorovs (Roberts Uldriķis, 46 min.), Jānis Iikska , 81 min.), Vladislavs Gutkovskis (rejected, 71 min.).
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