Netherlands v Latvia background
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Article summary
The Netherlands can remember their only previous senior-level meeting with Latvia with some pride as the sides meet again in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group A.
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Their only senior encounter with Latvia to date having ended in a comfortable win, the Netherlands will be hoping for a return to form in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group A after a slip-up against Iceland last time out.
Match background
• Dick Advocaat's Netherlands beat Aleksandrs Starkovs' Latvia 3-0 in Braga in the Baltic nation's final UEFA EURO 2004 game – the heaviest defeat of what remains their only finals campaign to date.
• The teams for that game on 23 June 2004 were:
Netherlands: Van der Sar, Reiziger, Stam, Van Bronckhorst, Cocu, Van der Meyde (Overmars 63), Davids (Sneijder 77), Van Nistelrooy (Makaay 70), De Boer, Robben, Seedorf.
Latvia: Koļinko, Stepanovs, Astafjevs, Zemļinskis, Blagonadeždins, Isakovs, Bleidelis (Štolcers 83), Verpakovskis (Pahars 62), Rubins, Prohorenkovs (Laizāns 74), Lobaņovs.
• The Netherlands have won all eight of the nations' meetings in UEFA age-group competitions, most recently beating Latvia 2-1 in Belgium in a 2012 Under-17 qualifier.
• In six UEFA meetings between the nations' clubs, the Dutch sides' record is W4 D1 L1, with 26 goals scored and four conceded. That lone Latvian victory was a 3-2 win for SK Liepājas Metalurgs at home against sc Heerenveen in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Heerenveen won the return fixture 6-1.