Photo: Jelizaveta Ilyina / “Riga FC”
“Riga” “Optibet” defeated “Valmiera” in their first round match in the first round match of the Latvian Football Super League Championship, but RFS beat “Jūrmala” “Spartaku”.
“Riga” won at home with 2: 1 (1: 1). Alvis Jaunzems scored the goal for the guests in the first minute. However, three minutes later the result was equalized, doing so for Ukrainian guest player Oleksandr Filipov – 1: 1. The winner was decided in the 86th minute, when Ngonda Muzinga – 2: 1.
After three championship titles in the previous season, “Riga” was immediately behind the first three, while “Valmiera” fought for the title until the last round and won the second place in the end. Both teams can also be considered as medal candidates in the 2022 season. The still ambitious “Riga” team this season will be led by the most famous coach who has ever worked in Latvia – German Torsten Finks.
The Riga club has strengthened the attack with the Ukrainian Oleksandr Filipov, who is rented from the Belgian top league club St.Truiden, and the Bulgarian Georg Minchev. Soccer players such as Vladlens Jurchenko from Ukraine, Yuri Kendish of Belarus, Josephine Barnes from Ghana, Tans Pecs from Greece have joined the defensive line, and former Metta footballer Babus Musa, Raiva Andris Jurkovski, who has gained experience at the Irish Championship, and austria have joined the defensive line.
Several footballers of the previous season are continuing their careers in other Latvian teams – defender Vladislavs Fyodorovs has switched to the principal opponent RFS, midfielder Alexei Savelyev will play in the ranks of “Auda”, and forward Junusa Muritala has returned to the “Metta” team. Among the footballers of the previous seasons, Felipe Brizola, Nedeļko Piščeviča, Marco Jurišiča and Jean Batista Leo will no longer be part of Riga.
There has also been a change of coach in Valmiera, which, unlike the Riga club, was a bit unexpected. In place of Tamaz Pertis, who successfully worked in Vidzeme, the team will be led by Jurģis Kalns, who assisted him in the previous season. Valmiera club has not made any significant changes in its composition, only said goodbye to the center’s defenders Lukas Gadrani and Viktoras Aleksandrovs, as well as the striker Ibrahim Sova, who will continue his career in the Tukums team. Last year, Sovs, despite wasting a lot of opportunities, scored 12 goals – the same as the leader of the Vidzeme attack and the most productive Latvian footballer in the Super League Raimonds Krollis.
In the second match of the day, RFS beat Jurmala’s “Spartaku” 3: 2 (1: 1). Although the RFS had a territorial advantage, there were practically no dangerous moments at the gates of the house. In the 37th minute, Kevin Friesenbihler was nominated by RFS, who realized his own 11-meter penalty kick. He outpaced the goalkeeper Dāvis Veisbuku, provoking him to go to the opposite corner of the goal, but he himself sent the ball to the right corner of the goal with a weak but accurate shot – 1: 0.
After a free kick, the visitors gave the ball away to Oļegs Laizāns, who put the ball into the back of the net without any stopping a goal: 1: 1. In the 56th minute, Artūrs Ostapenko even counterattacked “Spartaku” in the counterattack, sending the ball into the far-left corner of the counterattack. However, after five minutes, the RFS equalized Žiga Lipuščeks – 2: 2
In the 89th minute, the victory against his former club was taken by Elvis Stuglis, who had gone on the field six minutes earlier and sent the ball into the goal after Sedrika Kuadio centered the long pole – 3: 2. After several years of pursuing the Riga team in 2021, RFS won both the Premier League and the Latvian Cup. The footballers of the two-time Latvian champion “Spartaka” took the fifth place.
Viktors Morozs will continue to train in the RFS, but Spartak still holds the post of Psemishlav Lagozhny. RFS has strengthened its defense with Kaspars Dubras, Vitalija Maksimenko and Vladislav Fyodorov before the season. Maksimenko is currently healing an injury, and the productive midfielder Artūrs Zjuzins has not played for some time. The champions have added four young footballers – midfielders Karoli Uzel from Lithuania and Vladislav Galkin from Russia, as well as strikers Alexander Shestyuk from Belarus and Ishmael Diamonde from Côte d’Ivoire.
In other teams, however, several other RFS key players continue their careers. Roberts Savavnieks, Leonel Strumija and Lukass Villela will now play in “Liepāja”, but last year’s best player of the Premier League Tomasšs Šimkovičs has returned to his homeland in Austria. Leonart Vamba is the best goal scorer in the 2021 Super League in the Spartaka application, but he has not been seen as a member of the Marines in the official test matches. On the other hand, Ghana’s midfielder Quado Asamo, the Croatian midfielder Tins Vukmanic and the defender Marcis Osh have returned to the team, as well as the experienced Oleg Laizan. The application also contains a number of young Latvian footballers.
It has already been reported that in the first game of the 2022 season, on Friday, “Liepāja” won the Salaspils “Super Nova” team at home 3: 1. On Sunday there will be fights between “Daugavpils” and “Tukums 2000” / “Telms”, as well as “Metta” and “Auda”. Ten teams will play in the 2022 Super League. In the Premier League championship last season, for the first time in the history of the club, RFS triumphed, “Valmiera” took the second place, and “Liepāja” won bronze awards. Meanwhile, the champion team of the previous three seasons “Riga” took the fourth place.
In the last season of the Optibet Future League, the first three places were taken by the Auda, Tukums 2000 T / TSS and Super Nova teams, joining the top league clubs. The games are scheduled to take place in four rounds from March 11 to November 13.
