At the beginning of the new season, the richest team of Latvian club football “Riga” has lost three of the four games against direct competitors in the fight for the title of national champion. During the week, 1: 2 in the derby of the capital against RFS and 0: 3 away in Valmiera, the results that are always expected by the always demanding club management are definitely not.
The head coach of the team, Torsten Finks, is currently the most famous personality in our football, who has had to face the reality of the Latvian championship games from the former moments of the player’s fame and victory in the UEFA Champions League as part of Munich’s Bayern. Before the season, on the social networks, the fans of domestic football talked about the emotions that a visit to Daugavpils “Celtnieks” stadium would bring to Fink. It is now clear that this is in his memory after one visit.
“We will see what happens when the teams move to a normal grass. It will be a completely different game that will no longer resemble a futsal. I will say that Latvian football does not deserve such fields. It is always difficult to play on the artificial grass, but if they are still poor quality fields …. There is no good field in Liepaja, there is a disaster in Daugavpils at all. Such pitches are to the detriment of good teams and a good flute. If we want to have more fans in the stands, that is the first thing that needs to be improved. Better infrastructure needs to be built. It is clear that there will be no stadiums with 100,000 seats, but such artificial turf areas are not a solution either. What motivation to play here, what motivation for the players to return to this tournament, ”Finks said critical words about the Latvian football infrastructure.
However, the German coach added that this should not be seen as an excuse for poor results, because the conditions were the same for everyone and the quality of the field did not decide the results of the matches. “We have problems with two specific games. I do not think that we should look for deeper problems now. After two losses, we are under total pressure and that is not what we want. We have to look ahead, these have only been ten games and already this week we will have a new opportunity to play against Liepāja, ”commented Finks on the current situation.
In the Latvian championship, the teams will move to the natural grass fields in the middle of May or even at the end, so as not to permanently damage their cover in the cold spring. Finks promises that his team will then be able to show better football. “Riga” was preparing for the season abroad and spent training camps in warm countries on natural grasslands in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Cyprus.
In the Optibet Virsliga, after ten rounds, the teams of Valmiera and RFS have 23 points each, FC “Liepāja” – 22, “Riga” – 19.
The games of the 11th round will start on May 5, but the central match of the round will take place on May 6 in Mežaparks, where “Riga” will try to revenge the Liepaja players for the loss in the first round.
