UNPREDICTABLE LATVIANS
A1+
[12:53 pm] 11 February, 2009
An Armenia-Latvia football match is due in Cyprus at 5:00 (Yerevan
time) February 11. This is the first time the teams meet after the
fall of the USSR. Let’s get acquainted with the prior achievements
and sports background of Armenia’s contender.
BACKGROUND
After the collapse of the USSR Latvia has been among unique Soviet
counties reaching the Europe-2004 finals after beating Turkey’s team
in the play-off. (Turkey was a bronze medal holder then). In the
finals Latvia appeared in the group of "death" and was to compete
with Germany, Holland and Czechia. The team gained one point and was
the last on the list.
Today Latvia is involved in the second group of the 2010 World Cup. The
team has gained four points during the last four matches.
CHIEF COACH
The Latvian team is trained by Alexandre Starkov, a former skillful
football. At the head of Starkov Riga’s Skonto has been Latvia’s
champion for many years. Starkov has been heading the Latvian team
since 2001. After the success in Euro-2004 finals Starkov got an
invitation from Moscow’s Spartak and moved to Russia. In 2006 he
returned to Skonto.