Compared to the June camp, this time the national team also has Eduards Emsis and Roberts Uldriķis, who were called up to the national team in the summer, but did not participate in the training process due to health problems.
The head coach of the Latvian national team, Paolo Nicolato, has selected the players for the September camp, where the Latvian national team will make its debut in the C division of the UEFA Nations League. The Latvian team will start the 2024/2025 season of the tournament with an away game on September 7 in Armenia, and on September 10 they will host the Faroe Islands at the “Skonto” stadium in Riga.
In the first three seasons of the UEFA Nations League, the Latvian national team competed in the D League, from which they managed to get out in 2022, when they were defeated in the group with Moldova, Andorra and Liechtenstein. This year, the Latvian national team was drawn into the C league group with North Macedonia, Armenia and the Faroe Islands. The winner of the group will be promoted one level higher to the B League, while the last place holder will have to face a rematch for not being relegated to the D League.
So far, Latvia has competed with Armenia four times, and so far the balance is favorable for the Latvian national team: two wins, one draw, one loss. The first mutual game was a test match in 2009, when a 0:0 draw was recorded. In another test match, five years later, a 2-0 victory was achieved at the “Skonto” stadium. Last year, the Latvian national team first lost to the Armenians 1:2 on the road, but in the return match in Riga they were again superior with 2:0. On the other hand, with the Faroe Islands, the balance of the Latvian national team is 1-4-1, the first victory being achieved in June in Liepāja.
This year, Italian specialist Nicolato, who previously worked with Italian youth national teams with good success, became the head coach of the Latvian national team. In his first training camp in March of this year, he won two draws with a wide rotation of players against Cyprus and Liechtenstein, but in the June camp in the Baltic Cup, Latvia first recognized the superiority of Lithuania with 0:2, and then defeated the Faroe Islands with 1:0.
List of candidates for the Latvian men’s football team:
goalkeepers – Rihards Matrevics (“Riga”), Frank Dāvids Orols (“Daugavpils”), Roberts Ozols (“Qizilqum” of Zarafshona, Uzbekistan);
defenders – Kaspars Dubra (“Panevezys”, Lithuania), Roberts Savalnieks, Daniels Balodis (both – RFS), Andrejs Tsiganiks (“Luzern”, Switzerland), Raivis Andris Jurkovskis, Antonijs Chernomordys, Kirils Ilyin (all – “Riga”) Alvis Jaunzems (Melec “Stal”, Poland), Kristers Tobers (Zurich “Grasshoppers”, Switzerland), Maksims Toniševs, Emils Birka (both – “Valmiera”);
midfielders – Aleksej Saveljevs, Denis Melniks (both – “Auda”), Mārtiņš ħigurs, Dmitrijs Zelenkovs, Jānis Ikaunieks (all – RFS), Renārs Varslavāns, Lukas Vapne (both – “Valmiera”), Eduards Daškėvičs (“Riga”), Eduards Emsis (“Raufoss”, Norway);
forwards – Marko Regža (“Riga”), Roberts Uldričis (“Kallithea” of Athens, Greece), Vladislavs Gutkovskis (“Citizen” of Daejeon, South Korea).
2024-08-28 20:45:10