Armenia arrange Latvia date
Thursday, August 8, 2002
Article summary
Armenia head coach Oscar López faces his first match in charge against Latvia on 21 August.
Article body
The newly appointed Armenia head coach Oscar López faces his first test in a friendly against Latvia in Riga on 21 August.
Final warm-up
Armenia initially planned to play Jordan on this date but failed to reach an agreement and so turned to Latvia instead. The match offers López a chance to look at players before the start of their EURO 2004™ campaign, which begins against Ukraine in Yerevan next month.
Only home-based players
López will most likely pick only Armenia-based players for the game against Latvia. As a result, Armenia stalwarts like Artur Petrosyan and Harutyun Vardanyan, who are based in Switzerland, and Sargis Hovsepyan, Alber Sarkisyan and Andrey Movsesyan, who are based in Russia, will only appear in September.
Group 6 opponents
Armenia are drawn in Group 6 of the EURO 2004™ qualifiers alongside Spain, Ukraine, Greece and Northern Ireland. Latvia will play Sweden, Poland, Hungary and San Marino in Group 4.