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The Latvian men’s national football team will meet with the Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro and Gibraltar in the 2022 World Cup qualifying European zone G group.
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The Netherlands was drawn from the first basket, Turkey from the second, Norway from the third, Montenegro from the fourth and Gibraltar from the sixth.
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“For us, this is a challenging subgroup with an interesting balance between collectively strong teams and units with bright individual leaders,” the coach said in a conversation with an LFF spokesman immediately after the draw. “Most of these teams are well known to us, because in recent years our paths have crossed with these teams in both official and test matches.”
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Kazakevičs emphasizes that this is a great group for Latvian players to prove themselves and the growth of the team.
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The head coach of the Latvian national team considers the Dutch to be the group’s favorites.
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“However, they have grown a really good generation of players, they definitely have the highest goals. At the same time, the other teams are strong enough and will try to compete with them,” he predicts.
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Distribution of groups
PHOTOS: FIFA / Twitter
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“Our task is to be competitive in every game, regardless of the opponent’s playing skills. We must try to please our fans with both quality performance and earned points. Also in games against relatively higher ranking opponents,” says Kazakevičs about the goals in the tournament.
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According to Kazakevich, a group with five or six teams did not make much difference.
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Latvia played with the Montenegrin national team very recently – in October of this year, fighting in a test match in Podgorica on the pitch – 1: 1.
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“I think that in next year’s dues, the line-ups of both teams will be quite different from those we saw in the recent test game,” the coach thinks. “The October match may have shed some light on the team’s style of play and trends, as the field allowed in those weather conditions, but the optimal line-ups for the two teams will be quite different.”
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In this group, Latvia must meet Turkey, which has never surpassed our national team since the restoration of Latvia’s independence, and the success of the sum of two matches over which Latvia was given the participation in the only European Championship final tournament in its history.
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“The nuances of these matches will become clear once we know the specific times and conditions of the games, such as whether we will be able to enjoy the atmosphere that is usually in the home games of the Turkish national team,” the coach says of this opponent.
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“It is clear that we have historically been an awkward opponent for the Turks. Our task will be to continue this tradition. We are currently waiting for the calendar and will continue to prepare for the games.”
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Before the draw, Latvia’s national team was in the fifth of six baskets, along with Armenia, Cyprus, the Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Andorra, so these countries could not be drawn into opponents for the domestic state unit.
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The start of the 2022 World Cup qualification is scheduled for March 24 next year.
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In the European area, the samples are divided into ten subgroups, five by five samples and five by six samples. Ten group winners will qualify for the World Cup final, but ten runners-up and two top UEFA Nations League teams will be in the “play-off” round, which will be outside the top two in the sub-groups.
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In the elimination tournament, 12 teams will be divided into three “play-off” branches, where in March 2022 three more participants of the final tournament will be determined.
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The final of the 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar, and due to the hot weather, the tournament will be played in the winter from November 21 to December 18.
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In 2022, Qatar will host the last World Cup final, with 32 teams participating. The 2026 tournament, hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, will feature 48 national teams.
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Preparations for the World Cup final have not been without incidents, for example, the organizers are accused of corruption in order to obtain the right to organize the most ambitious sporting event in four years. Qatar has also received criticism from human rights organizations about poor labor conditions.
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The current world champion is France, which beat Croatia 4: 2 in the final in Russia. Belgium took the third place, beating England 2: 0.
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