Latvian women ‘s national football team Photo: LFF
According to the Latvian Football Federation (LFF), several players will not be able to help the Latvian women’s football team in the match with England.
In a week, Latvian footballers will play the fifth match of the 2023 World Cup qualifying cycle in Doncaster, meeting with England, which capitulated at 0:10 a month ago, suffering the biggest loss in the history of the national team. The head coach of the national team, Roman Kvačov, has gathered 23 players. Candidates for the first training will gather on Thursday, having three classes at the Daugava Stadium in Riga until Saturday. The trip to England is planned for the team on Sunday, the pre-game training will follow on Monday, but the game will take place on Tuesday at 21:00 Latvian time.
For the first time, Anna Kristīne Gornela, a defender of Latvian origin playing in Sweden’s second strongest league, has been called to the national team. Roman Kwačov also included Viktor Vengrevic, Taisy Smirnov and Diana Skribin for the first time, the first two of whom have no experience in the national unit. Among the candidates are four other potential debutants – Alīna Skļemenova, Kristīne Evelīna Lodziņa, Selga Penelope Vitmore and Ērika Gricienko. Due to various reasons, there are no such regular players as Karlīna Miksone, Anastasia Ročāne, Olga Ševcova and Renāte Fedotova.
England are the group leader with 12 points in four games, Austria with nine points in three matches, six points for Northern Ireland with three games, Northern Macedonia and Luxembourg with three points in four duels, and Latvia being the only one without points. The Latvian national team ranks 102nd in the FIFA rankings, while England is eighth.
The selection competition will last until September next year. The winner of each group will automatically qualify for the final tournament, while the runners-up will compete for two more tickets to Australia and New Zealand. This time, the European Confederation Zone has 11 seats in the final tournament, which for the first time in history will bring together the 32 strongest teams from around the world.
The previous World Cup qualification was in a different format. At that time, the Latvian national team won the second place in the qualifying round with Kazakhstan, Georgia and Estonia, winning one (4: 0 over Estonia) and two draws (2: 2 with Kazakhstan, 1: 1 with Georgia).
List of candidates for the Latvian women’s football national team for the 2023 PK qualifying games:
Goalkeepers: Asnāte Lindermane (“Talsi Football”), Enija Anna Vaivode (without club), Alīna Skļemenova (“Super Nova”);
Security: Kristīne Evelīna Lodziņa, Artis Luīze Lubiņa (both “Metta”), Ligita Tumāne (“ASD Spezia”, Italy), Alise Gaiķe (“Super Nova”), Liāna Rožaščonoka (“Olaine”), Anna Kristīne Gornela (“Sundsvall”) , Sweden), Viktorija Vengreviča (“Daugavpils”), Ērika Gricienko (“Riga Football School”);
Pussardzes: Sofia Gergelež (Riga Football School), Selga Penelope Vitmore (Super Nova), Alīna Šilova (Metta), Nikola Brahman (Auda), Sandra Voitāne (Innsbruck Wacker, Austria), Viktorija Zaičikova ( without club), Taisija Smirnova, Signija Šenberga, Evelīna Freidenfelde (all – “Liepāja Football School”), Diāna Skribina (“Daugavpils”);
Attackers: Utah Buklovska (“Super Nova”), Tatjana Baličeva (SPG / “Altach” / “Vorderland”, Austria).
