Uldrikis has not yet fully recovered from his injury

At the press conference before Thursday’s game, the national team’s head coach Dainis Kazakevičs said that the first training sessions of the training camp, as is customary in the national team, were not held with the full team, and this is a usual situation.

“In general, we have done everything planned so far. We worked on the team’s tactical details and standard situations. Uldričis has not fully recovered from the injury at the moment, and I still do not have an answer about his playing in the match against Moldova,” the coach said at the press conference.

He denied that any of our players were out of shape in training. All candidates have shown good quality football and the right attitude.

“For some players, purely statistically, it may not be the best period right now, but in terms of performance, I see good progress in them. It is clear that there can always be questions about confidence and functional preparation, and we are working on that in the national team training camp,” explains the specialist.

“The starting line-up is still not clear at the moment. We still need today’s training to polish certain nuances. As usual, there are questions about a couple of positions,” he emphasizes the importance of today’s training in determining the line-up.

Kazakevičs reminds that on Thursday Latvia will have an important game against their direct competitors for the first place in the group.

“From what I saw on the field, I am in a positive mood. In the first game against the Moldovans, we managed to show a better performance and get a better result. We are working to do the same thing again tomorrow,” says the coach.

Defender Roberts Savalnieks also took part in the press conference, who noted the positive emotions gained during the training days of the national team.

“Of course, we would very much like to continue the winning streak, but it’s not like we talk and think about it all the time. We go step by step,” says Savalnieks.

On Thursday, the match with Moldova will take place at the “Skonto” stadium, but on September 25, the away tournament will be completed with a match in Andorra.

Compared to the June training camp, this time the national team does not have defender Mārča Oš, as well as midfielders Vladimir Kameš and Renār Varslavān. All other participants of the June training camp are available to the coach, and midfielder Krišs Kārkliņš has returned to the national team. For the first time in history, Maksims Toniševs has earned an invitation to the national team.

The Latvian national team started the UEFA Nations League 2022/2023 season by winning four victories in four matches in June. First, Andorra was beaten 3-0 in Riga and Liechtenstein was defeated 1-0, followed by a 4-2 victory over Moldova in Chisinau, as well as a 2-0 victory in Liechtenstein.

After four out of six rounds of games, Latvia is the leader of the D1 group with 12 points. In the remaining two matches, Latvia needs at least two points to guarantee victory in the group and entry into the C division of the UEFA Nations League.

LFF reports that the task of the Latvian national team in the upcoming matches is to win both matches, and to do so convincingly enough to be able to win the entire D League, not only in its group.

The first place in the competition of D League teams will give the opportunity to hope for a “play-off” ticket to the European Championship in the spring of 2024.

For this to happen, Latvia must, first of all, get more points and a better goal difference than the winner of Group D2 (Estonia or Malta), not taking into account the results against Liechtenstein. Secondly, it is to be hoped that at least 13 of the 16 teams playing at the same level, for example, thirteen of the sixteen national teams of the UEFA Nations A League, will win tickets to the final tournament in the qualification for the European Championship scheduled for 2023.

The list of candidates for the Latvian men’s football team for the September games:

goalkeepers: Pavel Šteinbor (RFS), Krišjānis Zviedris (“Liepāja”), Rihards Matrevics (“Valmiera”);

protectors: Antonijs Chernomordys, Raivis Andris Jurkovskis (both – “Riga”), Kaspars Dubra, Vladislavs Sorokins, Elvis Stuglis (all – RFS), Igors Tarasovs (“Krasava”, Cyprus), Roberts Savalnieks (“Liepāja”), Daniels Balodis, Emil Tag (both – “Valmiera”);

midfielders: Eduards Emsis (“Lahti”, Finland), Andrejs Tsyganiks (“FC DAC 1904”, Slovakia), Alvis Jaunzems (“Valmiera”), Artūrs Zyuzins (RFS), Aleksej Saveljevs (“Auda”), Kristers Tobers (Lechia Gdańsk “, Poland), Jānis Ikaunieks (“KuPs”, Finland), Krišs Kārkliņš (“Liepāja”), Maksims Toniševs (“Valmiera”);

attackers: Vladislavs Gutkovskis (“Rakow” of Czestochowa, Poland), Roberts Uldriķis (“Cambuur” of Leeuwarden, Netherlands), Raimonds Krollis (“Valmiera”), Dāvis Ikaunieks (“Jablonec”, Czech Republic).