Latvia v Turkey background
Monday, September 1, 2014
Article summary
Latvia secured perhaps the most important victory in their history against Turkey – and will hope that omen is good when the teams meet again in Group A.
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Latvia fans should need no reminding of the last time Turkey came to Riga, with their UEFA EURO 2016 Group A encounter reviving memories of perhaps the most significant win in the Baltic nation's history.
Match background
• This will be the countries' fifth tussle since they first met in 1924, Turkey beating their hosts 3-1 in Riga. The sides' most recent head-to-head was a friendly in Duisburg, Germany, on 28 May 2013 in which Turkey twice let slip a two-goal lead to draw 3-3.
• Their most famous meetings came in the UEFA EURO 2004 play-offs when Aleksandrs Starkovs' men won 1-0 at home and then came back from 2-0 down against Senol Günes's team to draw 2-2 in Istanbul and make it to the finals of a major international tournament for the first time.
• The lineups for that 1-0 in Riga on 15 November 2003 – in which Emre Aşık was sent off on 73 minutes – were:
Latvia: Koljinko, Stepanovs, Astafjevs, Lobaņovs, Laizāns, Korabļovs, Isakovs, Bleidelis, Verpakovskis (Kolesničenko 89), Rubins (Pučinskis 82), Rimkus (Štolcers 85).
Turkey: Rüştü, Emre Aşık, Bülent, Fatih Aykel, Ergün, Emre Belözoğlu (Tümer 86), Okan (Gökdeniz 83), Tugay, İlhan, Nihat (Deniz 76), İbrahim Üzülmez.
• Turkey's first away game in Group A ended in a shock 3-0 defeat by Iceland. They had won their three preceding competitive away matches 2-0.
• Latvia forward Valērijs Šabala turned 20 on the eve of this fixture.
• Turkish clubs are unbeaten in five UEFA competition encounters with Latvian counterparts (W3 D2).
• The two nations have each won one of their three meetings in UEFA age-group tournaments.
