Report.az
The Latvian national team is taking the friendly match against Azerbaijan seriously.
According to "Report", the national team's head coach Paolo Nicolato said this at the pre-match press conference.
He noted that he was optimistic:
"We have been preparing for the game against Azerbaijan for 5 days. Although we have some difficulties, we want to solve the problems and achieve success. I am optimistic about tomorrow's match. We take every meeting seriously. Our opponent is ranked 119th in the FIFA ranking. We want to develop by playing against teams above us.
We have new players in our squad. We give them the opportunity to show themselves. Such games are also a chance to show their skills. The important thing for us is that every football player feels like an important figure here. It is also important that new football players do not have a sense of fear in matches against strong teams. The strength of the national team is measured by the level of the internal league. The more football players we have playing in a strong club, the better it will be for our national team.
We are not looking at the games we played against the Azerbaijani national team in the past. Latvia's defeat to Azerbaijan in the last game 5 years ago is not important to me. We always act according to the requirements of today. Because a lot changes in football in a minute. The head coach of the Azerbaijani national team, Fernando Santos, is a world-renowned expert. I have great respect for his work and achievements. Of course, we take this into account.
After the game against Azerbaijan, we will play an official match against Albania. Of course, there have been 50 percent changes in the squad. After the meeting with Azerbaijan, we will focus all our attention on the match with the Albanians."
