The Latvian national football team in Andorra repeats the biggest victory in the history of the national team

Latvia beat Andorra 5: 0 (1: 0) at the Estadi Nacional Stadium in the Andorran capital Andorra la Vella.

Jānis Ikaunieks scored two goals for the Latvians, Antonijs Chernomordijs, Vladislavs Gutkovskis and Raimonds Krollis scored one goal.

Shortly after the start of the game, J.Ikaunieks did not hit the goal from a good position, the ball hitting the goal post.

In the seventh minute, Kasparam Dubram headed the ball further into the penalty area, where the team captain’s defender Chernomordijs got it in the goal with the second attempt – 1: 0.

After a short while, only Vladislav Gutkovsky had three great chances to score with a shot from the penalty area, marking the passes of Roberta Savaļnieks and Andrejs Cigaņiks, but the ball sparkled past the goal.

The match was sweeping from both sides, already in the first half only Vladimir Kameš, J.Ikaunieks and Artūrs Zjuzins earning a yellow card for Latvia, but Kristians Garsiys, Kuku and Marsio Vieiras “stand out” in the ranks of the home team – considered to be the roughest team in Europe.

In the 38th minute, Krišs Kārkliņš hit dangerously, goalkeeper Hosep Gomes repelled the ball flying to the cross.

In the 55th minute, Zjuzin was replaced by Aleksejs Savļjevs, and two minutes later Latvia doubled the lead. J.Ikaunieks passed to Gutkovskis in the middle of the penalty area, from where in the fight with the defender the ball came again to Ikaunieks on the left side, who with his strongest left leg beat the goalkeeper – 2: 0.

Only three minutes passed when Ikaunieks stood out again, hitting the ball with his head in the nearby corner net after Kārkliņš’s corner kick – 3: 0.

4: 0 with a penalty kick of 70 meters in the 70th minute Gutkovskis caught Gomesu, sending the ball to the right side, while the goalkeeper jumped to the left from the corner of the attacker. Gutkowski himself also caught an eleven-meter when Emil Garcia “crawled” near their goal.

In the 75th minute, Krollis took the place instead of Gutkovskis, Daniels Ontužāns replaced Kamešu, and Mārtiņš Ķigurs replaced Ikaunieks. Ontzans was already in the yellow “patch” after six minutes. In the 82nd minute, Dāvis Ikaunieks replaced Cigaņika.

The opponents also made four substitutions in the second half, earning two more yellow cards performed by Joan Servos and Aaron Sanchez, but Gutkovskis repeated 15 minutes after leaving the field.

Christian Garcia received the second yellow card in the penalty area, complete with a red color palette, for falling to the penalty area, but after a short conversation between D.Ikaunieks and Krollis, the “victim” himself went to the 11-meter mark, convincingly playing Gomes. The goalkeeper lens from the attacker in the right corner, but Krollis hit with the left foot in the left corner, scoring his first goal in the team – 5: 0.

The victory with a five-goal difference is the biggest ever success in the history of the Latvian state. The last time this was done was in 2016 against Gibraltar (5: 0), previously in 2012 against Lithuania (5: 0), but for the first time in 1935 also against our southern neighbors (6: 1). True, this is the first time that such a big victory was won in an official game, because Latvia beat the Lithuanians in the Baltic Cup matches both times, but the victory against Gibraltar was won in a test game.

In the second match, Malta played 1: 1 (0: 0) with the Faroe Islands.

In the 54th minute, the result was revealed by Matthew Gijome, but the winners of the equalization group reached 16 minutes later, answering Ari Jonson with an accurate broadcast.

After six games in a group with 12 points, the Faroe Islands won, Malta has nine points, the Latvian national team has scored seven points, and Andorra has won two points.

It has already been reported that the Latvian national team beat San Marino 3: 0 in the test match this season, but in the penultimate game of the League of Nations D1 group they played 1: 1 with the Faroe Islands in their field.

Roberts Uldriķis, who has already returned to the disposal of his club “Sion”, as well as Igors Tarasovs, who did not go to Andorra at all due to injury, are not available for the Latvian national team.

Neither team had yet won the Nations League tournament until Tuesday. Latvia had four draws, Andorra had two draws, and winning the last match would allow it to leave the last place in the group.

While Andorra scored only one goal in five matches, Latvia had not been able to do much more – three.

Of the last seven games, Latvia had won in only one – Lāčplēsis Day against the weakest team in Europe, San Marino (3: 0).

Since its success in October 2019, Andorra has not won the European Championship qualifiers in ten games in a row, winning three draws. In the last three away games, they lost – in the League of Nations match against the Faroe Islands (0: 2), in the friendly match on November 11 against Portugal (0: 7) and on Saturday against Malta (1: 3). Since 1996, when Andorra played its first game, it has won only six times.

The two teams will compete against each other for the ninth time. In the first five, Latvia won, accumulating a goal ratio of 14: 1. In the last three battles, which have all taken place within the UEFA League of Nations, Latvia has been an equal opponent of Andorra, ending the match three times with a draw.

The place in the world rank also showed the team’s current chances of winning. The Latvian national team ranks 142nd in the FIFA rankings, while Andorra is three places lower.

The Andorran national team is also known as the roughest team in Europe, which is among the biggest earners of yellow and red cards.

Latvia, on the other hand, last lost without wins in 1996, when its account had three draws and five losses.

In September, in the first group of the UEFA Nations D League, Latvians played 0-0 at home with Andorra and fought 1: 1 with Malta. Another draw was recorded in October in Torshavn, where the draw was played again – 1: 1 with Faroese footballers, in the next game Latvia conceded to Malta with 0: 1, but in the last match their points were shared (1: 1) with the Faroe Islands.

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 play in the D league.

Candidates for the Latvian men’s national football team for the UEFA League of Nations November games:

goalkeepers – Roberts Ozols (“Riga”), Kaspars Ikstens (RFS), Dāvis Ošs (Jūrmala “Spartaks”);

guards – Igors Tarasovs (Kuopio “Palloseura”, Finland), Elvis Stuglis, Ritvars Rugins, Antonijs Chernomordijs (all – “Riga”), Roberts Savaļnieks (RFS), Mārcis Ošs (“Lugano”, Switzerland), Krišs Kārkliņš (Valmiera “), Raivis Jurkovskis (” Liepāja “), Kaspars Dubra (” Oleksandriya “, Ukraine);

midfielders – Artūrs Zjuzins, Jānis Ikaunieks (both – RFS), Aleksejs Savļjevs (“Mantova”, Italy), Andrejs Cigaņiks (Luhansk “Zorja”, Ukraine), Vladimirs Kamesh (“Riga”), Alvis Jaunzems (“Valmiera”), Eduards Tīdenbergs, Mārtiņš Ķigurs, Ingars Sarmis Stuglis (all – “Liepāja”), Daniels Ontužāns (Munich “Bayern”, Germany)

attackers – Vladislav Gutkowski (Czestochowa “Rakow”, Poland), Robert Uldrik (“Sion”, Switzerland), Dāvis Ikaunieks (“Mlada Boleslav”, Czech Republic), Raimonds Krollis (“Metta”).