Latvian National Team’s Victory Over Armenia Spurs Coach Controversy

On October 12, in the “Skonto” stadium in Riga, in the presence of more than 5,000 spectators, the players of the Latvian national team beat the national team of Armenia with the result 2:0 (1:0) in the 2024 European Championship qualification match. In the first half, the fans left the H sector stands in protest against coach Kazakevic.

“I think about it a lot. I don’t understand this protest. When we played in the Nations League and won almost all the games, everyone was happy, everything was fine – Dainis was the best coach. Now, when the team has a small crisis, something is a little wrong – the fans immediately want let Dainis step down,” Gutkovskis expressed incomprehension.

One of Latvia’s best football players of recent years believes that attracting a foreign coach in previous attempts did not pay off. The Latvian national team did not show good results either under the leadership of Serbian Slavisas Stojanovičs or Finnish specialist Miksu Pātelainen.

“What can we do? Let’s bring in a foreign coach again who doesn’t know anything about Latvia, who doesn’t know our mentality, who doesn’t know all our players? Dainis is one of those coaches who knows all the players in Latvia. He knows which ones are strong and which weaknesses,” Gutkovskis believes.