Today in Riga, the Latvia men's national football team will meet England in the qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup, reports LETA.
The K group match will start at the Daugava Stadium at 21:45 and will be broadcast live on LTV7.
In the first two qualifying matches in March, Latvia won away against Andorra 1:0 and lost to England 0:3. In June, at home, the team drew 1:1 with Albania, in September lost 0:1 to Serbia at home, and then lost to Albania away. On Saturday in Riga, the Latvians drew 2:2 with Andorra.
In March, England won at home against Albania (2:0) and Latvia (3:0), in June they won away against Andorra (1:0), in September they again won at home against Andorra (2:0) and crushed Serbia away (5:0). On Thursday, England, without their captain Harry Kane, won at home against Wales 3:0.
The leader of Group K is the England national team with 15 points from five matches. Albania has 11 points after six games, and Serbia has seven points from five. The Latvia national team has earned five points from six matches, while Andorra has one.
In the FIFA rankings, the Latvia national team currently ranks 137th, while England is fourth.
The injured captain Kristers Tobers is absent from the Latvia national team. Forward Bruno Melnis and midfielder Alvis Jaunzems were not included in the list of candidates. Ingars Pulis and Danila Patiychuk have been called up to the national team for the first time.
The head coach of the Latvia national team, Paolo Nicolato, is assisted by coaches Massimo Paganin and Alexander Tsauña, goalkeeper coach Gabriele Aldegani, fitness coaches Vincenzo Pincolini and Maris Smirnov, as well as video analysts Leonardo Carletti and Ilya Shchanitsyn.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has not conceded goals in eight consecutive matches — a new record for the national team, one game more than the legendary Gordon Banks.
If England wins the match, they will secure a place in the final tournament of the 2026 World Cup.
From the European zone, 12 group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup. The playoffs will involve 12 teams that finished in second place, as well as the four best group winners of the UEFA Nations League for the 2024/2025 season, provided they do not finish in first or second place in their qualifying groups.
The final tournament of the World Cup, featuring 48 teams, will take place in June and July 2026 in Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
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