Starkovs ponders Pahars poser

As the countdown to UEFA EURO 2004™ gathers pace, uefa.com considers what the coming months might hold for the 16 finalists. Today we look at Latvia.

By Mihail Korolev

Latvia's sensational qualification for UEFA EURO 2004™ sent shockwaves across Europe and has also had a huge effect in the Baltic nation.

Media scrutiny
Traditionally, ice hockey and basketball have hogged the Latvian sports headlines but the football bug has now infected the country as the countdown begins to a first major finals appearance. Meanwhile the stars of qualification, namely coach Aleksandrs Starkovs and prolific striker Maris Verpakovskis, have found themselves under intense media scrutiny. Having signed for FC Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine, Verpakovskis has escaped from the limelight for a few months, but Starkovs can only dream about a quiet life until the end of the championship.

Fringe chance
Already the coach has thrown his charges into extensive preparations with two matches in December involving fringe contenders for the final squad. "They have to use every chance to prove their claims for the place in the team," the coach said. "As I am not sure they will have such an opportunity in March or in April when all the best players will return and a new stage of preparations begins." In the event a 2-0 reverse against Kuwait and a 1-0 loss against an Andalusian side probably taught Starkovs very little.

Warm-up matches
Latvia's preparations will continue In February when they take part in a mini-tournament in Cyprus while a friendly against Slovenia is planned for March and Iceland are due to visit Riga in April. Additionally, 7 June has been earmarked for a final pre-tournament friendly.

Majority of side settled
Renowned for his conservatism, Starkovs already seems sure, injuries permitting, of the make-up of the majority of his first eleven and squad. Aleksandrs Kolinko is the undisputed first choice in goal and the defence has a settled look to it, although FC Skonto's 22-year-old right-back Vadim Login has staked a late claim for a place.

Main dilemma
In midfield and attack, Starkovs' main dilemma concerns what to do with Marians Pahars. The Southampton FC player missed the majority of the qualifying campaign through injury but is now fit again and raring to go. Pahars often plays wide on the left in the English Premiership, but Starkovs might not want to risk utilising one of his prized striking assets in midfield. Besides which, Andrejs Rubins has made the left-wing position his own and 17-year-old prodigies Kristaps Blanks and Igors Semjonovs are also able to play in wide roles or in the centre of midfield.

Good on paper
Everything then seems to point to a Verpakovskis-Pahars striking partnership being used in Portugal. However, although this prospect looks mouth-watering on paper, the worry persists that as a duo they may be too slight physically to effectively threaten opposing defences.

Plenty of back-up
Fortunately there is plenty of back-up should Latvia's top two strikers under-perform or get injured; Vits Rimkus and Andrejs Prohorenkovs are both tried and tested performers while 22-year-old Girts Karlsons was one of the few to make a good impression in the December friendlies.

Tough group
Whoever Starkovs selects though one thing seems sure: having been drawn in an almost impossibly tough Group D alongside the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany, most Latvian fans will be satisfied if the side merely give it their best shot in Portugal, even if it means being on the first plane home after the group stage.