by Malta and Latvia will be making the trip toward the island of Malta for the final match of the UEFA Women’s Nations League that will decide Group C1. The two sides come into the match on the back of different encounters but both with their sights firmly on the target.
Reactions To Andorra & Moldova Encounters
The two nations will go into the final match after having played very different encounters. Latvia started things off with a 4-0 victory over Andorra, to keep their promotion hopes alive after they had rescued a 3-3 draw against Moldova in the previous round. The Latvians prevailed against Andorra despite extremely tricky conditions, which led to a snow-laden pitch.
Latvia’s coach, Roman Kvacovs, was understandably in an up-beat mood following the victory over Andorra. He said, “As we predicted that the opponents would play against us today, it was so. They used two schemes against us, first with a little more pressure on us, then with an emphasis on defence. We were ready for all of this, we modelled all these situations in training. The opponent did not surprise us at all today. But we focused more on our own performance, our game in attack. Due to the weather, some adjustments had to be made. Today we could not play so much combined football, because it was difficult to do it on such a field.”
The coach praised Olga Sevcova’s hat-trick, her first for her nation. Despite not always getting on the scoresheet, the winger has been the best creative outlet for the side. However, the coach noted the importance of the team effort, continuing, “I think it was character that helped us win so convincingly today.”
Meanwhile, Malta were held to a goalless draw by Moldova, despite arguably having the better chances in the game. Manuela Tesse spoke about the dominance of the team in the match, but also acknowledged the shortcomings. She said, “The first reflection is that we made to many mistakes in key passes in the final third. Secondly we were too afraid. We missed a great scoring opportunity in front of the goal that was empty. We had eleven corners and twelve attempts but hit the target only once.”
Probed about the decision to bring Kailey Willis on so late in the match, the coach noted that the decision was not a reactional one, but based on pre-determined structures. She said, “This was my decision. We see the players daily so we know what conditions they are in.”
Outlook To The Final Match
The two teams will be making the trip toward Malta for the final match which will be played on Tuesday. Malta won the reverse fixture in Latvia by 1-0 in a hotly contested match.
Speaking about the upcoming fixture, Latvia’s Romans Kvacovs said, “When we are in the national team, we are always in a positive mood. In that mood, we will go to Malta. We want to win the last match. Even more so because we will be playing against the leader of the group. Our goal is to combine our style of play with a winning result, with three points in the table.”
Probed about the next few days, Malta’s Manuela Tesse lamented that the travelling logistics have not made it easy on the team. She said, “Ultimately tomorrow (Saturday) we do not have training because we have to travel all day and we also lost a day before this match always because of travel logistics. That means that, in reality, we did not have enough training opportunities to prepare these two important matches.”
However, Malta’s coach is of the conviction that the team can get the result on Tuesday, “We will work on the mentality aspect because when you have won four games and then find yourself very close to the goal, sometimes you can suffer, because the target is very close. Maybe (against Moldova) we were scared to win and missed only the goal. Against Latvia, we will play calmly and play our game. We will be in front of our supporters and they will certainly also give us more strength to reach our goal.”
It all sets things up for a thrilling and deciding contest at the Centenary Stadium, on Tuesday (5th) at 16:00. Tickets for the match may be purchased online.
Lead Image: Sievesu Futbols
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