Wales v Latvia Competition - UEFA European Championship Stage - Qualification Round Group - D Venue - Cardiff City Stadium Date - Tuesday, 28 March 2023 Kick off - 19:45 Following their surprising - and very welcome - away draw against Group favourites, Croatia, next up for Rob Pages’ Wales squad is a home fixture against Latvia. Last Saturday, in their first international since Gareth Bale's and Joey Allen’s retirements, Wales boss Rob Page also had other headaches to contend with as Brennan Johnson (groin) and Ben Davies (hamstring) were both missing while Dan James, Harry Wilson and Kieffer Moore - Wales' starting front three - had only played 610 minutes of football between them in the Premier League this season. Despite these considerable hurdles, Nathan Broadhead popped up to score a stoppage-time equaliser to secure Wales a 1-1 draw with Croatia. Andrej Kramaric opened the scoring before the break, taking advantage of some lacklustre Welsh defending in a one-sided game in Split. However, Croatia couldn't finish Wales off, with Mateo Kovacic missing a sitter and Ivan Perisic hitting the crossbar. It left the door open for a patched-up Wales to sensationally level matters with virtually the last kick when Ipswich Town's Broadhead, making his debut from the bench, prodded home at the back post following a Connor Roberts long throw. It may have been a goal that only grabbed a draw but it was a goal that will feel like a victory to Page's side and the Red Wall given that they had been forced to soak up so much pressure. The fixture in Cardiff will be Latvia’s first match in Pool D and they are the weakest side in the section - according to the FIFA world rankings - so Wales cannot afford to slip up against opponents that all their group rivals will be expected to take points off. Indeed, Latvian Head Coach, Dainis Kazakevičs, in recent press conferences, has been pretty realistic in his expectations and aspirations for Pool D: “For the Latvian national team, this cycle will be successful if we can take points against nominally stronger opponents. Our goal is also to overtake Armenia in the tournament table, and against the other three teams – to take points in one of the games.” said the coach. Wales has played Latvia on just one previous occasion, a 2-0 friendly win for Wales back in 2004, when Rob Page was among the starters in Mark Hughes’ side. Turning to Tuesday evening - which will be the first-ever competitive meeting between the 2 countries - it is essential for Wales to capitalise on their unexpected point in Croatia and secure three more points. However, Latvia should not be under estimated: they can pose a threat, indeed they have scored in each of their fixtures since the start of last year.
Good writeup again there Taff, I'm almost looking forward to your one for Saturday now (though only almost ). I don't know if I'm just slipping straight back into the typical "small Wales" mentality but I'm actually quite worried about this game. Croatia away felt like a bit of a free hit... Getting anything out of that felt like a bonus. This game is totally different with us being overwhelming favourites... All the pressure is on us and breaking down dogged opponents isn't really our forte, especially as we'll need to be careful not to leave the back door open to a counter attack from clearly determined visitors. I've always maintained that the difference between our fans and the likes of the English is that we go into EVERY game with hope in our hearts rather than expectation in our minds and I can't see this being any different. Yes we should win based purely on squads and rankings but we really will still need to be right on it or we could suffer.
Latvia will be one of those teams who defend deep in numbers against us. We tend to struggle to open teams like that up as we don't really have the players to counter it. We've seen it many times against the likes of Estonia, Belarus etc. We seem to do better when teams attack us as there's more space. Hopefully we can get an early goal or two and relieve the pressure. COME ON WALES !!
If they do park the bus early we need Daniel James on his speed game and on the ball a lot to cut through them ? 2-1 us
Thanks as always Taff. They will be difficult to break down so an early goal would be great. I am going for a nervy 1-0 win.
Quick comment ahead of Saturday’s match: “Keith Stroud will be the man in the middle when Swansea City face Cardiff City in Saturday’s South Wales derby. The 53-year-old Stroud joined the National List of Referees in 2004 and took charge of a Swans match for the first time in March of the following year; a 2-2 draw against Northampton Town at Sixfields. He has been the referee for a further 26 matches including a League One play-off semi-final in 2006 and a Championship play-off semi-final in 2020 – both against Brentford. So far this season, Stroud has taken charge of 31 matches handing out 158 yellow cards and four reds. On Saturday, he will be assisted by Sam Lewis and Nigel Lugg, while Andy Woolmer is the fourth official.” What a bloody combination, Stroud in the middle and Woolmer the 4th official ….
Yep. They're roughing it up now. Important we don't react and end up with a load of cards. Took a while and a few scares to get going but I think we've shown we can win this. Hope we can keep the crowd fired up and put them under the cosh in the second half.
Croatia 2-0 up away at Turkey. Good news for us if we can pick up the win tonight. Saw the Jocks are also 1 up against Spain!!
