The Latvian U-17 national football team fought a draw 2: 2 (0: 2) with its Swedish counterparts in the final match of the 2022 European Championship (EC) qualifiers in Gothenburg on Tuesday, winning a ticket to the elite round, in which 32 of the continent’s strongest national teams will play.
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Emīls Evelons and Ēriks Boroduška scored the goal for the Latvian national team.
The Swedes were led by Emanuel Tannors in the ninth minute after the counterattack, but five minutes later, Jardels Kanga won the Swedish team with an accurate score of 2: 0.
After 61 minutes, Evelons ran on to that through ball and took it towards the goal. He outclassed the home side’s keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 16 minutes into the game, Boroduška came close to leveling the score with a dangerous shot from the center of the area that went just over the bar.
In the subgroup with seven points, the Czech Republic won in three games, five points went to Sweden, four points to Latvia, but Lithuania remained behind. Latvia secured a place among the top four third-place teams and entered the elite round.
In the Latvian U-17 team, which started the qualifying round of the 2022 European Championship in Jelgava, four cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed. Further participation of the team in the competition was not possible due to the health risks for the participants. Therefore, the national team did not play in the scheduled matches against Sweden and Lithuania on September 26 and 29.
In the first game, the team led by Jurģis Puccins lost 0: 1 to his peers from the Czech Republic. The second match took place on October 31 in Jelgava, where Latvia beat the Lithuanians 4: 1.
The winners of the first two places of the group qualified for the elite round of the selection tournament, as well as four winners of the third places, who will have the best results in the matches against the two best teams of their subgroup. A total of 13 qualifying round tournaments were played.
32 teams will compete in the elite tournament in March next year, distributing 15 tickets to the final tournament, which will take place in Israel in May.
