Pahars vital to Latvia

Marians Pahars is Latvia’s main attacking threat and it is hard to picture the national team without him. He takes free-kicks, provides crosses, dribbles and shoots – to cut it short, he does it all.

A lone striker
Often employed as a lone forward in a defensively minded Latvian team, the nation’s most naturally gifted player has not always been popular with home supporters. It is often said in Latvia that it is a different Pahars who plays for Latvia from the one who earned the nickname of ‘the Latvian Owen’ while playing for Southampton FC in the FA Premiership.

Goal drought
Pahars suffered a year-long goal drought for Latvia, breaking it only in the middle of 2001, when he scored against Lithuania in the Baltic Cup. During his long, barren spell, critics suggested Pahars was saving himself for the Premiership, and was not motivated enough to play for his country.

Immense natural ability
Most of it was not true, of course, but because of his immense natural ability, Pahars has had to get used to being regarded differently to the rest of his international team-mates. Supporters see him as a footballing wizard who is capable of winning games for Latvia more or less on his own. Sometimes that has been the case but it is hard to expect miracles, even from Pahars.

An idol at Southampton
The tiny striker was one of the first Latvians to sign for a British club. He moved to Southampton in 1998 for a fee of €900,000, and his approximate transfer value is at least 10 times that now. In his first matches for Southampton at the end of the 1998/99 season Pahars became an idol for the club’s supporters, scoring two goals in a key game against Everton FC to save his side from relegation.

Prodigious goalscoring
At one stage Pahars was scoring approximately 50 per cent of Southampton’s goals. That was the case in December 2001, when Pahars' tally was seven of the 15 scored by the club in the Premiership. Not surprisingly he has appeared consistently under four different managers at the club.

Made in Riga
Born in Riga, Pahars made his debut in the Latvian Virsliga in 1994 when he was 18. He appeared for FK Pardaugava Riga 17 times and scored three goals. His next club was FK Skonto-Metall Riga, where he scored four goals in 16 games. Pahars signed for FC Skonto in 1995, and scored eight in nine in his debut season. Before moving to Southampton in 1998, he had scored 51 goals in 118 Virsliga matches. His debut for the Latvia Under-21 side came when he was 18, and he won his first full senior cap at the age of 20.