Turkey date for Baltic neighbours

Latvia and Lithuania will meet in a friendly in Turkey on 12 February as part of their preparations for the restart of UEFA EURO 2004™  qualification programme in the spring.

Antalya the venue
"The provisional agreement was made in December, but both us and the Lithuanians kept looking for another opponent for this date," said Latvia Football Federation (LFF) general secretary Janis Mezeckis. "However, we were not successful." The Baltic neighbours will meet in the city of Antalya.

Pahars doubt
Latvian champions FC Skonto and runners-up FK Ventspils will hold training camps in Turkey in January, and, according to Mezeckis, that was part of the reason for playing the friendly international there. Latvia are planning to field a full-strength side, although striker Marians Pahars' availability is uncertain as he may undergo ankle surgery in the near future.

Latvia lead group
Latvia head Group 4 with seven points from three games, while Lithuania are fourth in Group 5 with three points from their opening matches.