Initially, Shilov’s exclusion from the test matches with Denmark was explained by overwork during the summer preparation for the new season. To a large extent, for this reason, the goalkeeper also got injured. Artūrs Irbe, the goalkeeper coach of the Latvian national team, explains the situation: “Artūrs has had a very productive summer with the busiest and most serious training process. Unfortunately, there has been an overload somewhere, because training started already in June. We have to learn from it. Artūrs is a person who likes to work and feel healthy fatigue, but in the previous weeks, he tried to get through it. At first, he tried to take a break. There came a time when he could start training again… However, we realized, that he won’t be in these games. We can’t put Artur in one period and then another one! The goalkeeper has to be 100% ready for this tournament the end of the world championship, maybe you could take a risk. At the moment, it is possible to get a chronic illness that can be treated for months. We discussed that it will be more fair if the one who is 100% ready plays.”
Irbe is not worried about the goalkeeper line. “The good news is that we have a man like in the tank – Kristers Gudljewski. He has been thrown into different situations and has gained a lot of experience and maturity. We didn’t have to worry about how all this would affect the goalkeeping team. I think that there were two departures from the goalkeeping side. successful test matches against Denmark. Eriks Vitols has shown himself well in the goalkeeping line Ivars Punnenovs in Switzerland. We could have hit the goalkeepers if we had to. Those who are ready to take a place in the goal are enough for us.”
Hockey
Pre-Olympic qualification in Riga
Thursday, August 29
France – Ukraine 7:2 Latvia – Slovenia 4:2
Friday, August 30
France – Slovenia (16.00) Latvia – Ukraine (20.00)
Sunday, September 1
Slovenia – Ukraine (13.00) Latvia – France (17.00)
2024-08-31 13:09:23