After six games, North Macedonia has 16 points in the subgroup and secured a ticket to division B, Armenia won seven points, Faroe Islands got six points, and Latvia ranked fourth with four points.
Among the four holders of fourth place in Division C, Latvia is currently in first place with four points out of six, which would allow them to fight for remaining in Division C, but the other teams still have to play their final matches at the beginning of next week. Luxembourg is second with two points, Azerbaijan has one point and Lithuania has no points.
Roberts Uldriķis scored the only goal for Latvia against Armenia.
As the game started calmly in the first minutes, both teams started to attack more actively and in the 13th minute, Armenia had a chance to score a goal after a corner kick, but Raivis Andris Jurkovskis hit the ball behind the goal after a cross.
After 15 minutes played, a good counterattack was already given to the Latvian football players, but the Armenians intercepted Jurkovski’s pass. After that, Renārs Varslavāns tried to execute a kick in the opponent’s penalty area, which was blocked.
Less than ten minutes later, the Latvians succeeded in counterattacking again, but this time the Armenians intercepted Varslavān’s pass as the ball did not reach Jānis Ikaunieks. A few minutes later, Vladislavs Gutkovskis tried to end the attack with an accurate shot, but the ball flew past the goal.
Towards the end of the first half, Armenia launched a counterattack, which was successfully stopped by Andrejs Tsiganiks. Shortly before going into the break, after the Armenian corner kick, Latvian football players went on a counterattack again, this time also ending without a shot on goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Armenia was put in the lead by Eduards Spercjans, who headed the ball into the Latvian goal in the 48th minute after Lukas Selarayan’s cross.
In the middle of the half, several substitutions were made in the Latvian national team, and in the 71st minute, Uldriķis, who came on as a substitute, achieved a draw. In the penalty area, Dmitry Zelenkov passed to Udrikis, who, standing with his back to the goal, easily sent the ball into the Armenian goal.
Armenia quickly regained the one-goal advantage when, in the 75th minute, Ciganiks failed to protect the rebounding ball at the Latvian goal, and Arturs Miranjans delivered the ball into the Latvian goal from a very close distance.
Less than ten minutes before the end of regular time, the captain of the Latvian national team, Kristers Tobers, was replaced due to an injury.
On the other hand, in the 85th minute, after a mistake made by Tsyganik, the counter-attack gave way to the Armenians, but Antony Chernomordy stopped it. This was followed by another Armenian corner kick, which was inaccurate and allowed Latvia to get the ball.
During the compensation, the Latvians controlled the ball more, but they did not manage to get any scoring opportunities, as the game ended in favor of Armenia.
Due to an injury, Dario Šits could not help Latvia in this match.
Latvia played its previous match on Thursday, when it lost 0:1 away to North Macedonia. A failure for Armenia as well, who recognized the superiority of the Faroe Islands at home with the same result.
In Group C4 matches, the Latvian national team, making its debut in the C division of the UEFA Nations League, lost to Armenia 1:4 in Yerevan in September and defeated the Faroe Islands 1:0 at home. In October, Latvia lost 0:3 to North Macedonia at home, but played 1:1 with the Faroe Islands away.
In the first three seasons of the UEFA Nations League, the Latvian national team competed in the D League, from which they managed to get out in 2022, when they were defeated in the group with Moldova, Andorra and Liechtenstein.
The winner of the group will enter the B league, but the last place holder will have to participate in the play-offs to keep the place in the C league.
Paolo Nicolato is assisted by coaches Massimo Paganins and Aleksandrs Cauņa, goalkeeping coach Andris Vanin, physical training coaches Vincenzo Pincolini and Māris Smirnovs, as well as video analysts Leonardo Carletti and Ilya Shčanitsins.
Source: www.diena.lv
