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On Friday, the champion “Riga” defeated “Liepāja” with Optibet in the final game of the third round of the Latvian Football Super League with 2: 0 (1: 0).
Game over! We are experiencing the first loss of the season against @RigaFC_Official with the result 0: 2, we forget this day and we are already preparing @RFSDaily @FutbolaVirsliga #fkliepaja pic.twitter.com/mZmjrIOZD5
– FK Liepāja (@LiepajaFK) June 26, 2020
After winning the first two rounds, the people of Kurzeme had to settle for the first loss of the season this time. The failure of the Liepāja club means that in the first three rounds the maximum possible nine points were won only by the RFS unit.
In the first half of the first half, there were no significant changes in the game, until the 24th minute Jakubs Hora was knocked down in the penalty area of ”Liepājas”. The “pendulum” awarded to the Rigans was debatably performed by Kule Mbombo, who sent the ball to the goal with a not too strong blow.
At the beginning of the second half, the guests had a slight advantage, and in one of the situations, Christian Damian Torres had a chance to equalize the result. The continuation from Liepaja was not followed, moreover, in the 63rd minute “Riga” doubled the lead – the ball was received directly by Felipe Brisola, the Brazilian reaching 2: 0.
⏯️ VIDEO: Watch the game @RigaFC_Official – @LiepajaFK (2: 0) goal scoring video!
⚽️ 1: 0 Corner to Richard 25 ′
⚽️ 2: 0 Felipe Bezerra Brisola 64 ′ # Virsliga2020 #OptibetVirsliga #RIGLIE pic.twitter.com/OGibnRGD6R– Optibet Premier League (@FutbolaVirsliga) June 26, 2020
In the second half, “Liepājas” goalkeeper Valentīns Raļkevičs saved the team from the third lost goal in several episodes. However, the Latvian champions failed to consolidate their lead, but a sure victory was celebrated.
“Riga” started the season with a convincing game and a victory of 2: 0 over “Valmiera”, but in the second game the performance was much dimmer, so a loss of 1: 2 was made to “Spartak” of Jurmala. “Liepāja” started the season with the guests 2: 0 over “Daugavpils”, but in the second round at home with 3: 0 “Metta” was beaten. In the match in Liepāja, Mārtiņš Ķigurs scored two goals for the city players of the wind, but in the first two games Artūrs Karašausks scored with three assists.
It has already been reported that on the initiative of Oleg Kononov, Mihails Koņevs, who is the most successful coach in the short history of the Riga club, has returned to the coaching corps of “Riga”.
The champion “Riga” retained its core in the off-season, but shortly before the start of the tournament parted ways from Tomislav Saric and Ivan Lukyanov, who joined RFS. Vladimir Kamesh has returned to the ranks of Rigans, but he has not yet entered the tournament. Several foreigners have also joined the team, including Jakub Hora, who recently played for Slavia in Prague.
In the inter-season, the Liepāja team was joined by such domestic football players as Karašauskas, Edgars Vardanjans and Vladislavs Gabovs, whose previous career stop was the “Riga” team. Tunisian defender Rami Bedui, who played in the World Cup final tournament last year, will also play in the ranks of Liepaja.
Last year, in the first three mutual games, “Riga” won with one goal, but the fourth duel ended in a draw, with Liepaja scoring two goals in the last minutes and reaching 2: 2.
It has already been reported that on Thursday in the introduction of this round “Ventspils” fought a draw 2: 2 with “Valmiera”, but “Daugavpils” guests defeated the league debutants “Tukums 2000 ″ / TSS team with 6: 0, reaching the first success of the season.
Also the first victory of the season was “Metta”, which at home with 1: 0 prevailed over “Jelgava”. Meanwhile, the third success in three games was celebrated by RFS, which beat Spartak 4: 1 in front of its empty stands.
RFS is the leader of the Premier League with nine points in three games, followed by Riga, Spartaks, Liepāja and Jelgava with six points. Next, four points are for “Ventspils”, but three points each for “Daugavpils” and “Metta” teams. The point is for “Valmiera” footballers, but at the moment there is only a Tukums 2000 ″ / TSS unit.
The Premier League competitions are held without spectators, in strict compliance with the requirements of the previously developed sanitary protocol.
The Optibet Football Super League season was due to start on March 13, but the day before it was announced that an emergency situation would be introduced in Latvia. On March 12, the scenario was allowed that the first games of the tournament would be played at empty grandstands, but the situation changed rapidly, and the beginning of the next day’s Premier League championship was canceled.
Participation in the Eurocups is provided by the winners of the first three places, as well as another ticket is played in the Latvian Cup (if the winner of the cup is one of the teams in the top three in the top league, then the fourth Eurocausing winner ).
This season, ten teams will start in the Super League, which is one more than last year and two more than yesterday. Also, this season in the Super League, the legionnaire limit has been raised to eight players. This means that there must be at least three players prepared for the association on the court at the same time. Last year, the limit was five foreign players.
As in many other countries, the number of permitted substitutions has been increased from three to five after the coronavirus break in the regulations of the Premier League championship in the 2020 season.
It is currently planned that four of the five rounds of games will be shown on the channel “Sportacentrs.com TV”, and one – on the channel “Best4Sport TV”.
For the second season, the general sponsor of the tournament is the Optibet group of companies.
Last year, “Riga” was crowned Latvian champion, but RFS won its first trophy in the history of the club, which won the national cup.
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