Two months ago, Latvia suffered heavy casualties at Rujevica. Croatia was able to pull ahead of them with a portion of five and claim the top spot in the rankings. However, since then a lot has changed. Vatreni lost to Turkey and Wales in Black October, sinking to third place. Their fate now rests on their ability to upset the Welsh in the final two rounds.
On Saturday at 18:00 in Riga, Latvia will host Croatia for their next match. Coach Dainis Kazakevičs announced the game and was immediately asked if his national team had what it takes to knock down the bronze medalists from the World Cup in Katra. Despite being last in the group, they are hoping for a miracle. Football is full of surprises and that’s why fans come to stadiums, hoping for their team to win every time.
Everything is possible in one game. If you ask me if Latvia can beat Croatia, my answer is that we can, of course we can – said the optimistic Kazakevičs. He has all his players at his disposal and they are ready for whatever happens. They have prepared plan A and plan B and they will be ready for any situation that arises during the game.
They have respect for Croatia as one of the best national teams in the world but they know that they will have to have a balance in this game as well as being compact and aggressive. They also touched on Luka Modrić stating that they will not allow him any space during the match. They need to be careful not to get yellow cards but also quite aggressive because Modrić is a player who they must not allow to do what he wants on