“Riga” football players became the winners of the “Responsible Game” Latvian Cup on Wednesday at the “Skonto” stadium in Riga, defeating the RFS team in the final.
“Riga” won 1:1 (1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 5:3 – 11 m).
The first half was spent in a battle of two similar teams, RFS looking a little better. There were dangerous moments, but accurate shots were missing.
When it seemed that the half would end without a goal scored, Douglas Aureliu surprised the RFS goalkeeper Yevhenii Nerugal, approaching the goal from the left side of the RFS penalty area and hitting the ball with his left foot from a narrow angle between the near post and the goalkeeper, who did not expect such a shot. The ball hit the far post and flew into the net.
In the 45th minute, Herdi Preng made a mistake on his side of the field, but the ball after Douglas Aureliu’s kick from the penalty area line was convincingly saved by goalkeeper Nerugal.
Trying to fight back, RFS made three substitutions, Artur Zjuzin came on the field instead of Vitaly Jagodinski in the 51st minute, and Dragoljub Savic and Stefan Panic were replaced by Emerson Santana and Ismael Diomande in the 67th minute.
“Riga” also made two substitutions, but “Riga” player Baba Musa earned a yellow card in the 78th minute.
In the 83rd minute, Žiga Lipušček aimed a low shot at the bottom left corner of the goal, but goalkeeper Rihards Matrevics saved the ball in a jump.
In the 87th minute, the mature Mārcis Ošs came to the RFS field instead of Prengas to fight for the upper balls. “Riga” responded in the 89th minute with tactical changes, including replacing Taivo Abdulrahman after 22 minutes spent on the field.
In the 90th minute, Zjuzins earned a yellow card, two minutes later – his teammate Petrs Mareš.
The video referees signaled that one of the players who entered the field in the 89th minute, Deniss Melniks, may have touched the ball with his hand in his own penalty area, and the referee Vitaly Spasjonnikovs went to study the replay, ruling that a 11-meter penalty kick should be awarded to the “Riga” goal.
Jānis Ikaunieks sent the ball into the right corner of the goal with a powerful shot, while goalkeeper Matrevic jumped into the opposite corner.
Extra time started with Antony Chernomordy earning a yellow card, halting the RFS attack.
RFS attacked as Lipusček’s header was saved by Matrevic under the crossbar.
“Riga” player Muhameds Ngoms started the 11-meter kicks with an accurate shot in the left corner of the goal, to which Ikaunieks responded with a kick in the upper left corner of the goal – 1:1.
In Ngonda, Glodī achieved 2:1, but Zjuzins equalized the result.
Eduards Daškėvičs sent the ball under the crossbar in the middle of the goal, but Petr Mareš’ shot in the left corner was deflected by Matrevics – 3:2 in favor of “Riga”.
Petar Bosančić made it 4-2, but Darko Lemajić left hope for RFS, sending the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Antony Contreras with an easy shot in the left corner of the goal gave the victory to “Riga”, making it 5:3.
“Riga” coach Tomislav Stipić won the cup for the second year in a row. A year ago, he did it with “Auda”, becoming the first coach after the restoration of Latvia’s national independence, who managed to do it two years in a row with two different clubs.
“Riga” played in the final for the fourth time. Before that, having played in the final for three seasons in a row, the team won for the first time in 2018, and RFS played in the final for the fourth time in the last five seasons, celebrating the victory in 2019 and 2021.
The two teams have met four times in the Latvian Football Super League this season, with all games ending in a draw – 1:1, 0:0, 2:2 and 0:0.
Superliga teams entered the cup competition from the round of 16. RFS defeated “Jelgavu” 3:0 on the way to the final, “JDFS Alberts” 4:1 in the quarterfinals, and “Tukums 2000″/”Telms” 3:1 in the semifinals.
On the other hand, “Riga” first defeated the third league team PPK/”Betsafe” by 5-0, in the quarter-finals they defeated last year’s Latvian Cup winner “Auda” with 4-0, and in the semi-finals they beat “Liepāja” 2-1 during the compensation period.
Since 1936, 39 different club teams have won the prestigious trophy, but since the independence of the country, 13 teams have lifted the cup above their heads.
Last year, “Auda” won the tournament for the first time, beating RFS 1:0 in the final.
