Latvia national football team: Difference between revisions

Latvia
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Association	Latvian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Aleksandrs Starkovs
Captain	Vitālijs Astafjevs
Most caps	Vitālijs Astafjevs (156)
Top scorer	Māris Verpakovskis (25)
Home stadium	Skonto stadions
FIFA code	LVA
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	58
Highest	51 (December 2003)
Lowest	111 (July 2007)
First international
	Latvia 1 - 1 Estonia ; (Riga, Latvia; 24 September, 1922)
Biggest win
	Latvia 8 - 0 Estonia ; (Tallinn, Estonia; 18 August, 1942)
Biggest defeat
	Sweden 12 - 2 Latvia ; (Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May, 1927)
European Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2004)
Best result	Round 1, 2004

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Revision as of 14:04, 24 September 2009

The Latvian national football team (Izlase in Latvian) is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia and represents the country in international football competitions, such as World Cup and the European Championships.

History

Latvia played their first match in 1922, a game against Estonia; the result was a 1-1 draw. Latvia are the only Baltic team that has qualified for a European Championship and have won the Baltic Cup 19 times. Latvia in its pre-war period from 1922 to 1940 played 99 official games.

In 1937, the Latvian team participated in the first qualification tournament for the FIFA World Cup 1938. Latvia was seeded in Group 8 with Austria and Lithuania. Latvia won Lithuania 4-2 in Riga (Goals: Fricis Kaņeps 9', 52', 83'; Iļja Vestermans 50' - Gudelis 79', Pavilionis 90') and than later 5-1 in Kaunas (Kaņeps 4', 45' (penalty); Vaclavs Borduško 11', 30'; Vestermans 67' - Pavilionis 72'), but lost 1-2 in the decisive match with Austria. Goals by Iļja Vestermans at the 6th minute for Latvia, and by Binder at 33' and Jerusalem at 15'. In April 1938 the Austrian Anschluss relegated the Austrian team, but the team of Latvia was not invited by FIFA as the group's runner-up.

In 1940, Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union; the country regained its independence in 1991 and played their first match as a new nation against Estonia on November 16 of that year in the Baltic Cup, and their first FIFA-recognized match against Romania on April 8, 1992, a 0-2 loss at Bucharest.

Latvia were surprise qualifiers for the 2004 European Football Championship. After coming second in their qualifying group (ahead of Poland they defeated 2002 World Cup semi-finalists Turkey in a playoff to reach the final tournament. They were drawn into group D with Germany, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On June 15, 2004, Latvia played Czech Republic and took half-time lead with a goal from Māris Verpakovskis. The Czechs would later come back to win the game 2-1. Four days later Latvia earned a respectable draw 0-0 against Germany to earn their first point in a major tournament. Latvia later lost to the Netherlands 3-0 and were eliminated with one point from their draw and two losses.

In the qualifying for World Cup 2006, Latvia were in group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Russia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. Latvia were considered as a small threat for the playoff spot. However, they failed to show any surprises as they did in Euro 2004 and failed to qualify for World Cup 2006 finishing fifth with 15 points from four wins, three draws and five losses.

Vitālijs Astafjevs has played for Latvia more times than anyone else, with 156 caps currently. Māris Verpakovskis is the nation's top goal scorer with 25. Marians Pahars has 15 goals.

World Cup record

1930 to 1934 - Did not enter
1938 - Did not qualify
1950 to 1990 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
1994 to 2006 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

1960 to 1992 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
1996 - Did not qualify
2000 - Did not qualify
2004 - Round 1
2008 - Did not qualify

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Template:2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 2

Results and fixtures

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Tournament	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
14 October, 2009	World Cup 2010	Riga	Moldova
10 October, 2009	World Cup 2010	Heraklion	Greece

Recent results

Date	Tournament	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
9 September, 2009	World Cup 2010	Riga	Switzerland	2:2	Aleksandrs Cauņa, Vitālijs Astafjevs
5 September, 2009	World Cup 2010	Ramat Gan	Israel	1:0	Kaspars Gorkšs
1 April, 2009	World Cup 2010	Riga	Luxembourg	2:0	Jurijs Žigajevs, Māris Verpakovskis
28 March, 2009	World Cup 2010	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	4:0	Ģirts Karlsons, Aleksandrs Cauņa, Aleksejs Višņakovs, Andrejs Perepļotkins
11 February, 2009	Friendly	Limassol	Armenia	0:0
12 November, 2008	Friendly	Tallinn	Estonia	1:1	Kristaps Grebis
15 October, 2008	World Cup 2010	Riga	Israel	1:1	Vladimirs Koļesņičenko
11 October, 2008	World Cup 2010	St. Gallen	Switzerland	1:2	Deniss Ivanovs
10 September, 2008	World Cup 2010	Riga	Greece	0:2
6 September, 2008	World Cup 2010	Tiraspol	Moldova	2:1	Ģirts Karlsons, Vitālijs Astafjevs
20 August, 2008	Friendly	Urziceni	Romania	0:1
1 June, 2008	Baltic Cup 2008	Riga	Lithuania	2:1	Kaspars Gorkšs, Vidas Alunderis (o.g.)
30 May, 2008	Baltic Cup 2008	Riga	Estonia	1:0	Juris Laizāns

Top Latvia goalscorers

Player	Latvia career	Goals (Caps)
Māris Verpakovskis	1999-present	24 (78)
Ēriks Pētersons	1929-1939	21 (63)
Vitālijs Astafjevs	1992-present	16 (156)
Marians Pahars	1996-2007	15 (75)
Juris Laizāns	1998-present	15 (98)
Alberts Šeibelis	1925-1939	14 (54)
Iļja Vestermans	1935-1938	13 (23)
Mihails Zemļinskis	1992-2005	12 (105)
Vits Rimkus	1995-2008	11 (73)
Arnolds Tauriņš	1925-1935	10 (39)

Latvia coaches

Coach	Latvia career
Jānis Gilis	1992 – 1997
Revaz Dzodzuashvili	1998 – 1999
Gary Johnson	1999 – 2001
Aleksandrs Starkovs	2001 – 2004
Jurijs Andrejevs	2004 – 2007
Aleksandrs Starkovs	2007 – present

Current squad

The following players were called up for the WCQ matches vs Israel and Switzerland, that took place on September 5, 2009 and September 9, 2009 .

Caps and goals are correct as of July 27, 2009.

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Aleksandrs Koļinko	(1975-06-18) June 18, 1975 (age 49)	82	FK Ventspils
12	1GK	Andris Vaņins	(1980-04-30) April 30, 1980 (age 44)	26	FC Sion
30	1GK	Deniss Romanovs	(1978-09-02) September 2, 1978 (age 46)	2	Slavia Prague

Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
4	2DF	Dzintars Zirnis	(1977-04-25) April 25, 1977 (age 47)	61	0	Liepājas Metalurgs
17	2DF	Oskars Kļava	(1983-08-08) August 8, 1983 (age 41)	34	1	Liepājas Metalurgs
13	2DF	Kaspars Gorkšs	(1981-11-06) November 6, 1981 (age 42)	27	2	Queens Park Rangers
6	2DF	Deniss Ivanovs	(1984-01-11) January 11, 1984 (age 40)	28	2	Ajax Cape Town
14	2DF	Deniss Kačanovs	(1979-11-27) November 27, 1979 (age 44)	24	0	Ventspils
	2DF	Pāvels Mihadjuks	(1980-03-05) March 5, 1980 (age 44)	1	0	Ventspils

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
3	3MF	Vitālijs Astafjevs	(1971-04-03) April 3, 1971 (age 53)	156	16	FK Ventspils
10	3MF	Andrejs Rubins	(1978-11-26) November 26, 1978 (age 45)	103	8	Inter Baku
	3MF	Genādijs Soloņicins	(1980-01-03) January 3, 1980 (age 44)	34	1	FK Simurq Zaqatala
18	3MF	Aleksandrs Cauņa	(1988-01-19) January 19, 1988 (age 36)	14	2	Skonto
25	3MF	Jurijs Žigajevs	(1985-11-14) November 14, 1985 (age 38)	9	1	Ventspils
	3MF	Maksims Rafaļskis	(1984-05-14) May 14, 1984 (age 40)	2	0	Liepājas Metalurgs
16	3MF	Vladimirs Koļesņičenko	(1980-05-04) May 4, 1980 (age 44)	42	4	Skonto

Forwards

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
9	4FW	Māris Verpakovskis	(1979-10-15) October 15, 1979 (age 44)	78	24	Ergotelis
20	4FW	Ģirts Karlsons	(1981-06-07) June 7, 1981 (age 43)	39	8	Inter Baku
	4FW	Kristaps Grebis	(1980-12-13) December 13, 1980 (age 43)	5	1	Liepājas Metalurgs
	4FW	Andrejs Perepļotkins	(1984-12-27) December 27, 1984 (age 39)	16	3	Skonto

External links

Template:Fb start

Template:Fb end

Template:Link FA

@@ Line 291: / Line 291: @@
 {{nat fs g player|no=6|pos=DF|name=[[Deniss Ivanovs]]|age={{birth date and age|1984|1|11}}|caps=28|goals=2|club=[[Ajax Cape Town]]|clubnat=South Africa}}
 {{nat fs g player|no=14|pos=DF|name=[[Deniss Kačanovs]]|age={{birth date and age|1979|11|27}}|caps=24|goals=0|club=[[FK Ventspils|Ventspils]]|clubnat=Latvia}}
-{{nat fs g player|no=|pos=DF|name=[[Pāvels Mihadjuks]]|age={{birth date and age|1980|3|5}}|caps=0|goals=0|club=[[FK Ventspils|Ventspils]]|clubnat=Latvia}}
+{{nat fs g player|no=|pos=DF|name=[[Pāvels Mihadjuks]]|age={{birth date and age|1980|3|5}}|caps=1|goals=0|club=[[FK Ventspils|Ventspils]]|clubnat=Latvia}}
 {{nat fs end}}

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