On Tuesday, the Latvia men's national football team lost to England 0:5 in a World Cup 2026 qualifying match in Riga. With this victory, the English secured their participation in the final stage of the tournament. Players from the Latvia team commented on the course of the game after the match and explained what was lacking for our team.
Nicolato: Occasionally we managed to do something good
The Latvia national football team showed good play at times in the match against England; however, the difference in skill level between the teams is too great, said Latvia's head coach Paolo Nicolato after the crushing defeat on Monday in Riga, LETA reports.
"Overall, we can say that we did everything we are capable of at the moment," Nicolato said after the loss. "The difference in skill between the two teams is very large. Occasionally we managed to do something good. We stayed in the game with the right attitude, fought as much as we could, created a few small moments."
As the Italian specialist noted, against teams like England, mistakes cannot be made. The opponents are faster and stronger, which forces errors. "But we always tried to correct every mistake, to stay in the game," Nicolato said. "After a score like in the first half, continuing to fight and not lowering our heads is not easy."
Nicolato also emphasized that such games are very important for the Latvia national team, as they can learn a lot from them.
"This is football at the highest level, and our players need such matches to progress," added the head coach of the Latvia national team.
We expected the English to start pressing from the first minute
The Latvia national football team expected their opponent to start applying pressure from the first minute in the World Cup qualifying match against England, said national team goalkeeper Kristjānis Zviedris in a conversation with journalists, LETA reports.
"We expected them to start pressing from the first minute," Zviedris said about the opponent, adding that perhaps it was due to his actions in the episode with the fourth conceded goal that Maksims Tonišev sent the ball into his own net.
"That's sports; even Serbia lost to England by the same score. We have to consider that this is a team of a different level. This is reality," Zviedris admitted.
In his opinion, matches against such opponents are even easier from the goalkeeper's position. "I am always in the game and in rhythm; I can catch confidence. Matches like against Andorra are more difficult — there is little work, and suddenly a couple of episodes arise where you need to play," explained Zviedris.
The goalkeeper agreed with head coach Paolo Nicolato's opinion that the team's play is improving, but this is not reflected in the results.
"Our main problem is that we do not know how to play against weaker teams. For example, today we were not afraid and combined well. In the match against Andorra, it felt like they were fighting for every inch, regardless of what we were doing. They were aggressive and motivated — we lack that a bit," concluded Zviedris.
The Latvia national team works with Italian Gabriele Aldegani as their goalkeeper coach; however, the foreign specialist has not made any radical changes to the team.
"We worked a lot on improving technique, but nothing new was introduced. Working with the national team is simple — you can't teach anything in a week, you can only work on nuances," said Zviedris.
Without risk, we will never feel progress
The Latvia national football team will never feel progress if they do not take risks on the field, said national team defender Roberts Veips after the match against England.
"The defenders today covered about 14 kilometers each. We did what we could. It was enough to give them at least a step or half a step forward — and it cost us dearly. We squeezed everything we could out of ourselves," said Veips, who debuted for the national team only in the previous match against Andorra.
"After the game against Andorra, we were angry because we thought we would win it through tactics and quality passes. In every match, you have to fight. We wanted to show the English that it wouldn't be easy. But they are masters and know how to use their moments," the player continued.
Veips also admitted that all five goals scored by the English came from mistakes made by the Latvian players. "I don't remember a single conceded goal where they just played masterfully and completed the attack into a goal. Somewhere in the center, we lost or did not keep the ball," the defender acknowledged.
The player noted that the Latvian players tried to reach the opponent's goal and outplay Jordan Pickford, who improved his record for clean sheets with the England national team on Tuesday.
"It is encouraging that we did not lower our heads regardless of the score. We wanted to score; unfortunately, we could not reach the net. It is nice that we took the initiative and believed that we could score. If we had been lucky or had a deflection — perhaps our ball would have gone into the net too," concluded Veips.
Before the match, the team discussed that the game should be played in such a way that regardless of the result, they could be proud of their dedication, fighting spirit, and persistence on the field.
"Everyone will remember the result, and of course, it is unpleasant to concede five goals. But we can be satisfied with our game because a lot worked out — we outplayed them, passed through the center, and got out of pressing. We should be happy that we did not just kick the ball randomly out of fear and that we want to play football. Without risk, we will never feel progress. Today there were many episodes where we succeeded," explained Veips.
The current coach of the Latvia national team, Paolo Nicolato, was characterized by the player, who played in Italian clubs at the beginning of his career, as an energetic person.
"Perhaps he could accept a long series of failures, but he would certainly not put up with us being unmotivated, without energy, and not fighting for every ball. In every match, we try to motivate ourselves as much as possible," Veips said about the coach's character.
The rout of the Latvian footballers
As previously reported, the Latvia men's national football team suffered a crushing defeat in the World Cup 2026 qualifying match against England on Tuesday, which secured their participation in the final stage, LETA reports.
The Latvia national team lost with a score of 0:5 (0:3).
In the K group match at the Daugava Stadium, Anthony Gordon opened the scoring in the 26th minute, sending the ball into the right corner of the goal with a shot from the penalty area — 1:0.
In the 44th minute, the English intercepted the ball near the Latvia national team's penalty area, and Harry Kane struck from just outside the penalty area into the left corner of the goal — 2:0.
In stoppage time of the first half, Antoniy Chernomordiy pulled Kane's shirt in his penalty area, and Kane converted the penalty, sending the ball into the lower left corner — 3:0.
In the 59th minute, after a pass from an England player from the right flank, the ball hit Maksims Tonišev's leg and flew into the left corner of the Latvia goal — 4:0 in favor of the English.
In the 86th minute, the English intercepted the ball again in the center of the field, and Eberechi Eze struck from the penalty area into the lower right corner of the goal — 5:0.
In the 88th minute, Kristaps Grabovskis made his debut for the Latvia national team, replacing Jānis Ikaunieks.
In the second group match on Tuesday, Andorra lost to Serbia at home with a score of 1:3 (1:1).
England leads Group K with 18 points after six matches, having secured their participation in the final tournament on Tuesday. Albania has 11 points, Serbia has 10. The Latvia national team has earned five points after seven games, while Andorra has one.
In the first two qualifying matches in March, Latvia won against Andorra 1:0 away and lost to England 0:3. In June, they drew 1:1 with Albania at home, in September they lost 0:1 to Serbia at home and to Albania away. On Saturday in Riga, the Latvians drew 2:2 with Andorra.
The Latvia national team currently ranks 137th in the world rankings, while England is fourth.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has kept a clean sheet in nine consecutive matches — a record for the national team.
Sixteen teams will qualify for the World Cup from Europe — 12 group winners and 12 second-placed teams, as well as the four best group winners of the UEFA Nations League for the 2024/2025 season that do not finish in the top two of their qualifying groups.
The final tournament of the World Cup with 48 teams will take place in June and July 2026 in Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
