[FM22] What if...? Multiverse me following a dream / Part I. FK Liepaja - Latvia

[equinøx]

Recently I’ve seen a couple of careers being played in Latvia, so I decided that it would be a shame for me not to try it myself, given that I come from Latvia. But the actual idea of the save will be a bit different rather than just managing in my home country. This will be merely a starting point. In fact, I’ll try to achieve my childhood dream with the help of FM – going all the way and becoming an Arsenal manager, with the hopes to repeat "The Invincibles" season at some point. So, without further ado, meet the guy, who decided to quit the office job in the beginning of 2021, in order to pursuit the dream and finally got his coaching license.

Spoiler

Not only this other me got the license, but he also decided to move away from Riga, the capital of Latvia, to a place a bit more quiet, closer to the Baltic Sea – Liepaja, where he will start his managerial career as a head coach of FK Liepaja.

The club is relatively young, founded in 2014, though this is not the first team coming from Liepaja. In fact, the club was founded after the previous team, FK Liepajas Metalurgs was dissolved the same year, due to the financial problems of the owner – steel manufacturing company.

Since the foundation, FK Liepaja managed to become a champion once (2015) and won a national cup twice – in 2017 and 2020. Goals are obvious – bring back the title to the town, try to achieve group stages of the European cups and develop the club into a local powerhouse, so that we can do an unbeaten season before I start plotting the move abroad to achieve a dream.

 

The new office - Daugava Stadium in Liepaja.

 

The journey itself starts in February 2021, a month and a half before the 2021 season of Optibet Virsliga begins.

League consists of 7 teams (in season 2022 number of teams will be increased to 10), with 4 rounds being played, meaning that we will play 24 matches from late March till late October.

Finances of the club are okay – 3.5M EUR on the balance sheet with no debts. Facilities on the other hand are not okay – all of them are rated as adequate, with junior coaching being average and youth recruitment only fairly basic. Thankfully, we have money in the bank, so one of my first wishes as a manager is to upgrade our facilities. We start with investing around 2M EUR in our training facilities and the upgrade should be finished in July 2021. There is no value in having good facilities, when there are no good coaches around so the next thing I focus on is staff. Don’t know how, but we managed to attract some ex-footballers like Joe Cole (Coach), Vicente (Scout) and Gerardo Torrado (Scout), but I reckon the best signing we made so far is our HOYD – Mazinho Patrao.

Our star HOYD.

Spoiler

Since I deliberately switched off the transfers in the first window, there will be no doings before the season starts and I can focus on assessing the current squad during the preseason, which in my opinion went well.

Squad.

 

So far club has around 7 players that can form a core of the team and I plan to build around most of them in the upcoming seasons. These are:

• Marko Simic, 33-year-old central defender - the best CB we have in the club, with solid attributes, though lacking some speed (what else should I expect from a 33-year-old). Unfortunately, doesn't want to extend his contract.

• Roberts Savalnieks, 28-year-old right back - our main RB, who can play further up the pitch if needed. Solid stats for fullback, part of Latvian national team. Rejoined the team before this season and we extended his contract.

• Marquinhos Pedroso, 27-year-old left wing back - a leading LB for most of the sides of the league. He's got it all to run up and down the pitch. His contract was expiring at the end of the season, so we immediately signed a new one. That's his first season with Liepaja.

• Lucas Villela, 27-year-old central/left midfielder - another Brazilian, another leading player for most of the sides. Can play efficiently both in the center of the midfield (where I plan to use him the most) and as a left inverted winger. Also joined the team before this season and apparently Liepaja paid some solid money for him - 200K EUR

• Nemanja Belakovic, 24-year-old wide attacking midfielder - the only guy who is on loan with us this season, taken from one of our competitors - Spartaks Jurmala. Can play on both flanks, though I intend to use him as an inverted winger on the left. Unfortunately, the loan has no future fee clause, so we will have to wait until the end of the season to determine what to do with him.

• Mikhail Gordeychuk, 31-year-old wide attacking midfielder - another player who joined the team before this season. Good attributes for the winger, but due to his Dictates the tempo trait I plan to use him as a playmaker. Duration of his contract runs out at the end of the season, and I might let him go due to the age.

• Martins Kigurs, 24-year-old central midfielder - local lad, who spent all his career playing for FK Liepaja and represents our club in Latvian national team as well. Technically gifted, with good mixture of mental and physical stats. Has the potential to play wide or upfront, so depending on our needs, might retrain him.

Liepaja's key players.

Spoiler

 

There is definitely room for the improvement here and these are my priorities:

1. New first-choice GK. Current options are not good enough, even though Luka Radotic has the potential to become a very good GK.
2. Two new CBs. Simic doesn't want to extend his contract (might have kept him for an extra season, despite him being 34), while the others should be more of a backup rather than starters.
3. Two new STs. Currently we have 4 guys, who can play as a striker, but none of them should be viewed as a first option. Dodo also wants to explore his options at the end of his contract, Karasausks is a fringe player, just like Kurtiss and Gordeychuk is my go-to guy to start as a playmaker.
4. At least one defensive CM. We have Strumia (who swapped his Argentinian nationality for Latvian, which is good for us) and Tkachuk, but they are both good back-up options, rather than being a starting squad player. Upgrade will be required at some point.
5. Belakovic or someone else to cover AML/AMR slots next season. Since Belakovic will go back to his team after the loan finishes and that I might not offer a new contract to the aging Gordeychuk, I need a first-team option for the next season.

Preseason results.

We had some great results in friendly matches, and I couldn't be happier with the fact that our players received no major injury before the start of the season. Also, I believe I might have been a bit harsh when evaluating my strikers, because in the end they did convert the chances they had in the friendlies scoring at least 4 goals each in 4/5 apps. We tried to not overcomplicate things, so a simple 4-2-2-2 (2 MC + AMR/AML) was my choice of the formation and I believe this is how we will be starting the season. Pundits say that we are going to finish 3rd in the league, media expects us to be 4th, but the only expectation I am worried about is the board's one. They want us to finish in the top half of the league (since there are 7 teams, I believe it is 3rd or higher), while also reaching the semi-final of the national cup - Latvijas Kauss ("kauss" translates from Latvian as a "cup"), being a defending champion.

Board expectations.

 

I guess that's it for the start. Feel free to comment/ask/criticize/recommend.

Edited August 21, 2022 by equinøx

[equinøx]

It’s July 2021 and it means that half of the league games were played, and we reached the point when European competitions start. Good news – we will be playing in Europe this season, starting our journey in UEFA Europa Conference League from the second qualifying round. We wait for the second game between Suduva (Lithuania) and Birkirkara (Malta) to take place, to find out our next opposition. Lithuanians won at home 3-2, so there are still chances for both teams to proceed. In the meantime, league is on the break, summer transfer window is open, and it is good time to review how the season unfolded so far.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. 1^st Round (Games 1-6).

We started our season playing away against Spartaks, who are predicted to finish 5^th, though they are not that far from competing for the top 3. Both teams started the game slowly and the 1^st half was about to finish 0-0, but Villela scored a great free kick. Team definitely felt relief and started playing better football, but the shooting was woeful, so we couldn’t increase our lead. And Spartaks used their chance, when their defender scored a header after a set-piece. Could have been more than a tie.

Next game was against RFS – one of two league leaders, hungry for a title after twice finishing as a runner-up. I couldn’t think of a start worse than happened – 11^th minute, we are 2-0 down. If RFS didn’t stop, we’d concede more. Luckily, we got a penalty on 29^th minute, which allowed us to cut the lead and kept our hopes for a good result alive. I reckon I managed to find the right words in the locker room, since we played a lot better in the second half. The subs played their role as well – Karasausks came of the bench and scored an equalizer on 71^st minute. Fans went wild on 88^th minute, because Dodo picked up a long through ball and scored an easy goal, rounding the keeper. 3-2, we complete a great comeback at home and feels like this is one of those season defining moments.

Away games against Metta and BFC Daugavpils were won confidently after such morale boost the team had. It did take some time though to break Metta’s defense, with first goal being scored only on 59^th minute by the comeback hero Dodo, who added two more goals to his tally against BFC Daugavpils. But these two teams are the outsiders of the league, so the real test was about to happen next.

Sitting on top of the league, we hosted Valmiera, who are projected to finish 3^rd in the league and should be considered our rival for that top 3 finish, so we had to carry on our form, to keep the streak as long as possible. We managed to start strong, dominated the game right until the moment in-form Dodo scored a lovely header on the 35^th minute, but then suddenly the team disappeared. The team didn’t come back in the 2^nd half also, so we were lucky to finish with a win in a match, considering we played only 30 minutes.

Game against Valmiera did show that we are not very consistent with how we approach the game, so there were doubts about the outcome of our upcoming clash with the defending champions Riga, even though they were visiting us after losing and drawing their last two games. Game starts with Dodo scoring in 5^th game in a row, yet again finishing after the cross, giving us a 1-0 lead on the 16^th minute. Belakovic doubled the lead with a well-placed shot on the 25^th minute. Riga did get one back before the halftime, scoring a penalty on 35^th minute. But that was it, because Villela put this game to bed with a powerful shot from outside the box, right after the second half started on 47^th minute. Riga didn’t fight back so we simply controlled the game with Gordeychuk scoring a penalty in the stoppage time. That’s a great way to finish 1^st round of Optibet Virsliga.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. 2^nd Round (Games 7-12).

Once again, we start the round with the game against Spartaks and this time they are visiting Daugava Stadium, where we want to get that stolen win from our season opener. And Dodo does that in style, completing a hattrick on 28^th minute. Spartaks did score once in the second half, but they were never close to getting a result this time.

Next is the trip to the capital, where RFS will surely want to get a revenge for what happened in our previous match. This was probably the first time when we were outplayed throughout the whole match and one of Riga’s giants showed why they are a title contender. It was another early goal for RFS against us, this time opening the scoresheet on the 4^th minute, scoring a set piece rebound. They kept applying pressure right until the halftime, so we were lucky to finish first half only 1-0 down. Right in the beginning of the second half, Dodo reminded everyone that he is the best striker in the league now, when he picked up a pass from Karasausks and scored in 1-on-1 situation. That was the only moment of brilliance from the team, so it was pretty much our goalie against RFS, who played well and secured this draw, bringing unbeaten run to 8 games.

Getting this draw allowed us to aim for 10 game unbeaten run, because we had outsiders Metta and BFC Daugavpils coming to and it sounds like a good achievement for the first season, because inevitably the streak will finish and RFS reminded us that we are not there yet. Both games finished with the same scores like in the 1^st round – 3-0 against Metta and 4-0 against BFC Daugavpils. Dodo’s scoring streak finished at 9 games in the row, when he failed to find a goal coming off the bench against BFC Daugavpils. But honestly, this is not the streak team should care about, because we are still unbeaten, and the count is already 10. What if…?

It's another time we are tested by Valmiera before our clash with Riga, and this time we travel to their territory. We pass the test with excellence, securing a 4-1 win, with Villela scoring twice and showing why he is worth 200K EUR the club paid.

Another trip to the capital but this time it is Riga we are playing against. But just like RFS, they want to get that win against us, after we demolished them 4-1. It did seem to be a deja-vu kind of trip because they were supposed to win the game just like their local rival. I was very surprised that on 87^th minute we even managed to take a 1-0 lead, after Gordeychuk scored a penalty, but they fairly snatched one back the next minute, probably wondering how they didn’t win the game. 1-1, and it is another unbeaten round of the league. Let’s see how far we can go.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. 3^rd Round (Games 13-15).

I almost got used to starting against Spartaks each new round, but this time we host RFS, who are just behind us in the table and are having their own unbeaten run of 6 games. Last time it wasn’t pretty and only sensational Dodo saved a draw for us. This time we were dictating the tempo of the game, took a lead on 36^th minute after Villela’s cross found Karasausks head and it looked like we are about to win it, but it is another header from the set piece late in the game that gives RFS a draw 1-1. It did hurt.

And it hurt badly, because our streak did end. Funny enough, it was Spartaks who ended the run. We didn’t play in the first half, and it looked like that late goal from RFS was haunting the team. Can’t say Spartaks were better, but they used their chance and took 1-0 lead on 31^st minute. Halftime teamtalk had a good effect on the team and they seemed motivated enough to save the run, but it was a goalie’s POTM performance, and he stopped our attack and finished our run. In the meantime, RFS won their match against Riga and moved us from the 1^st place in the league. We do have a game in hand though and it is just 1 point difference.

With two points in last 3 games and RFS trying to claim the top spot it is important to get the result against teams like Metta. Thankfully the team looked motivated to prove that last defeat should not have happened and carried the second half form, scoring twice before the halftime. I got to give respect to Metta because they slowly broke the game and looked a lot more confident after 60^th minute, scoring a goal on 79^th minute and putting our characters to test. The team did respond with a goal, when Sabala got his second of the game. “Sabala?” - you might ask. That’s what I am about to tell in the next post, which will cover the transfers, summer break and beginning of the European campaign.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Table and player stats after 16 games.

 

Bonus. Dodo the Almighty.

Edited August 21, 2022 by equinøx

[Alma Mater]

Oooh, Latvia!  I have a soft spot for saves there since I managed Valmiera in my journeyman save. Liepaja were our fiercest competitors for the title... I remember Lucas Villela, but also Seydina Keita being their brightest stars in the games I played against them.

I'm not certain exactly who will be in the Valmiera team since you started earlier than I did, but if you're looking for strikers and a keeper, you may want to have a look at them. Matrevics did a brilliant job for me in goal, and my striker pair from Senegal, Sow and Guéye - Guéye at least should already be there - scored about 20 goals each for me in a season where I rotated a lot due to the heavy schedule.

Looking forward to following your story!

[equinøx]

Hi!

Thanks for your comment! I've seen your story and you had accomplished some great things in Valmiera in such a short span of time. Hopefully I'll be included in hall of fame as well.

Villela is amazing and I pray that there won't be a line of buyers wanting to get him from me at the end of the season. I was a bit suspicious about Keita in the beginning, but he's shown himself as a great defender so far.

Valmiera's squad from your story seems to be almost identical. I'll ask my scouts to check Matrevics. Sow and Gueye are really good strikers for the league, but I'd like to get Krollis from Valmiera, as he seems to be a great local talent.

[equinøx]

Summer transfer window.

Transfers IN.

Since I had first transfer window disabled, this was the first time we could address the squad building using the finances available. We had around 300K EUR in the bank as a transfer budget and around 5K EUR/month of available payroll. Rather than buying players this transfer window, we focused on signing some good players available on the free using trials to get the better knowledge of the players. I think we had 25-30 players visiting our team, one of them being the legend of Inter Milan – Maicon. Even though I was tempted to add such a well-known player to the team, the right thing was focusing on the targets I outlined during the squad review. And those were:

First-choice goalkeeper.

Both of our current goalkeepers currently didn’t match our ambitions. Radotic, 20-year-old Serbian goalkeeper, with good potential (according to my staff) was my go-to guy in the beginning of the season, but after some unimpressive performances he lost the place in starting eleven to Zviedris, 24-year-old Latvian, a product of our youth academy. He did okay most of the time, but I reckon it was team’s overall performance that made him look better than he actually is. Given that the European journey was about to start, and our title hope is still alive, we had to improve our chances by finding someone better. Thankfully, one of the trialists turned out to be our new 1^st team option in the goal. Esteban Ruiz, 24-year-old Colombian, signed a 3-year contract and became our highest earning player with 3.7K EUR/month. We also managed to agree on the minimum release fee clause of 1M EUR, which would help to inject some money in the club, if he gets noticed and sold.

Esteban Ruiz.

Spoiler

Strikers.

Dodo might be having a season of the lifetime, banging goals one after another, but he is 33 and we still haven’t come to an agreement about his new deal. Karašausks and Kurtišs do their job as well, but none of them should be considered as a main option. Early in the season we managed to find a Canadian youngster Aribim Pebble, who joined the team in April on an amateur contract. Since the registration window was closed, he was sent to our B team, where he gained practice. He has decent core attributes for an Advanced Forward role, which I utilize in my tactics, and might come in handy in the end. Since it is an amateur contract and we pay him no money, I believe there’s not much we lose here. Signing a player for the future might be good, but we needed to add someone who could produce straight away. Valērijs Šabala, a 26-year-old Latvian international, with 50+ caps under his belt, was sitting without a contract, so we didn’t think long and signed 2.7K EUR/month 2-year deal. One of the most talented Latvian strikers of his generation, who was bought by Club Brugge when he was 20, came back to Latvia and now will try to relaunch his career in FK Liepāja. He might be lacking composure a bit, but as Dodo’s example shows, it shouldn’t be much of the problem. And as you might have noticed, he started off well, scoring twice in our last match against Metta.

Aribim Pepple & Valērijs Šabala.

Spoiler

Central defenders.

I decided not to invest resources in this position at this point, because our current CBs were doing the job fine. Marko Simic performed as good as it was expected from him, still being our best defender even though he is 34. Seydina Keita, 29-year-old Senegalese, became his partner in the center of the defense and their duo looked reliable so far. Marta and Isajevs are there to help me with the rotation and at the moment I can’t complain about their performance either. We did have a problem though that required a solution – Simic didn’t want to extend the contract, which meant that our best defender would leave the team at the end of the season. Therefore we approached Antonijs Černomordijs, 24-year-old Latvian central defender, who plays for Riga and whose contract is expiring at the end of the season. Riga for some reason decided not to act, so he happily accepted our offer and will join the team next season. But he is not the only CB, who will be moving from Riga to us next season, because we did the same trick with another Latvian central defender, 21-year-old Iļja Korotkovs. Incredibly happy with both of the deals.

Antonijs Černomordijs & Iļja Korotkovs. Both will join the club in the beginning of the next season as free agents.

Spoiler

 

Defensive-minded central midfielder.

No success here. We had some great trialists, who could have fulfilled my requirements to this position in terms of their skillset, but we could not handle the financial appetite of those players. Wage requirements usually started around 6-7K EUR/month, which I am not ready to pay at the moment, given that the highest earning player gets less than 4K EUR/month. I don’t want to end up matching this figure when extending contracts with other players, which will lead to payroll budget being inflated quickly. Financial stability is very important here.

Wide midfielders.

We knew that Belakovic would be leaving us at the end of this season, because he is on loan from Spartaks. Now we also know that Gordeychuk will be switching clubs because his contract is expiring, and he got an offer from Dinamo Minsk, which we did not contest. That leaves us with both AML and AMR positions being vacant next season. Villela is versatile enough to play as AML, so I am mostly worried about our right wing. There are a couple of players scouts are looking at but so far no one has impressed. One of the main priorities now as well as defensive-minded CM.

 

Besides addressing the problematic areas during the transfer window, there were some other signings to increase the depth of the squad.

It became obvious during the season that our left-back position had no real cover. Marquinhos Pedroso can’t play every match and he tends to collect yellow cards from time to time, which led to him missing a match already due to disqualification. The only other left footed option I have in defense is Martin Marta, 24-year-old Uruguayan left/center back, who can’t really contribute in the attack. Therefore, we signed Aleksandrs Solovjovs, 33-year-old Latvian left-back, as a free agent, to increase amount of the options I have.

Last but not least was the signing of the talented 20-year-old Paraguayan Diego Torres, who chose our club instead of RFS. He is technically gifted and can pass the ball well. Actually, he is one of the reasons, why I am happy to move Villela from his current Mezzala role to the left wing. Furthermore, Torres can develop into AML himself, providing extra depth for this position. The bast part of it – he is also on an amateur contract, so we save the money yet again.

Aleksandrs Solovjovs & Diego Torres.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Only two players left the team during this transfer window – Vadims Žuļevs and Daņiils Hvoiņickis. Žuļevs was our 4th option for the right back position, his contract was expiring at the end of the season, so we decided not to wait and offloaded him to Auda. Hvoiņickis became unhappy that he is not getting enough playing time, so we agreed that a loan move would be a best option for him at the moment. Tukums is his new club until the end of the season.

Transfers OUT.

 

Overall, I am satisfied with how this transfer window went. Weakest areas of the team were strengthened, and no money was spent to do that. Now it is time to focus on the remainder of the season.

Edited August 27, 2022 by equinøx

[equinøx]

UEFA Europe Conference League 2021/22. 2^nd Qualifying Round. 1^st leg.

Spoiler

While we were busy strengthening our squad, Lithuanian Sūduva and Maltese Birkirkara finished their match-up in the 1^st Qualifying Round, with Sūduva advancing. I am pleased that we had them as our opponents because there was a possibility to find out who is the better club coming from the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). Also, there is some history between the clubs, because Sūduva knocked us out in 2017, during the Europa League qualification, so it added some extra incentive to beat them this time. I hoped that Keita, Karašausks and Strumia, who had played against them in 2017, would help motivate the team.

The first game was played in Lithuania. I was worried that we might not be in the perfect condition, playing only one friendly game during that one-month break, against our new affiliate FS Jelgava (a comfortable 5-1 win, Dodo scored 4). The first half confirmed my suspicions. We were sluggish, moved the ball slowly and just couldn’t find the rhythm, with our first real opportunity arriving only in 35^th minute, when Torres picked up a loose ball and was in a one-on-one situation against the keeper, but the shot was parried by their keeper. At that moment we were already losing 1-0, after conceding a fluke goal – a free-kick from the centre of the pitch, which was mishandled by our new keeper Ruiz. And this pretty much sums up everything that happened in the first half. I made my feelings known during the halftime break and the team responded well, finally taking the control of the game. It took us 17 minutes to break their defence, when Šabala chipped a ball over the keeper, after receiving a cross from Savaļnieks in the box. 1-1 and plenty of time to score another one, which I felt we were going to do judging by how we played. And we did, though it did happen very late in the game when I was about to accept the draw. Marquinhos Pedroso played a long ball forward behind the back of the defenders, Karašausks was quick enough to pick it up, crossed it from the byline and Šabala only needed to put his foot across to get a winning goal on 90+4^th minute. What an ecstatic moment it was! Anyway, there were 90 minutes to be played next week and there was also a crucial game at home against Valmiera, who might not have been as impressive this season as predicted, but still has a quality to spoil our title hopes.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 16.

Considering that we had Sūduva coming to visit us for the 2^nd leg in a couple of days, I did take the risk and rotated the squad, changing my back 4 and a couple of other positions. Villela was one of those players who kept his place in the starting 11, and in the 7^th minute he almost scored a direct free kick, but the crossbar saved Valmiera from going down early in the game. The game did open up afterwards, with both teams having opportunities to take the lead, but it was Villela who sent the home crowd into the raptures on the 35^th minute, after scoring yet another beautiful goal from outside the box. 3 minutes later Valmiera had a great chance to score when their striker Sow got in a one-on-one situation, but his shot was blocked by our central defender Isajevs, who has done brilliantly to catch up with the opponent’s striker. Karašausks doubled our lead early in the second half but after that, we lost the momentum and Valmiera dominated right until the end of the game. It didn’t stop Dodo though, who scored his first goal after 4 games scoreless streak on the 72^nd minute (4 goals in a friendly do not count) coming from the bench a couple of minutes before that. Valmiera did get their consolation goal on the 90+4^th minute, which they fully deserved, leaving Ruiz without a clean sheet. A 3-1 win allowed us to take back the leading position in the league.

 

UEFA Europe Conference League 2021/22. 2^nd Qualifying Round. 2^nd leg.

Spoiler

After getting the job done in the league, we had to finish the business against Sūduva to progress to the next round, where Trabzonspor was already waiting. The first half ended up being very boring, with no goals and even no real moments to score. So, it all was coming down to 45 minutes left in the second half. Thanks to the rule changes we couldn’t just rely on the away goals. But as soon as the second half started, my life became a lot less stressful thanks to the Villela, who scored his 8th goal of the season – Gordeychuk came deep for the ball, found Šabala with a long ball on the edge of the box, who laid it off for Villela to hit a first-time shot, which he did perfectly. It gave us a boost of confidence, which led to another goal being scored on the 76^th minute when Šabala flicked the ball to Karašausks who made the score 2-0. Sūduva tried to get at least something from this game, but during one of our counterattacks we got fouled, and Kārkļinš scored our third goal of the game with a fabulous strike from the direct free kick. We got one over our Lithuanian neighbours, received 100K EUR of the prize money and our European journey continued. We had a week to prepare before we got a visit from Trabzonspor and it was going to be a different type of challenge.

 

UEFA Europe Conference League 2021/22. 3^rd Qualifying Round. 1^st leg.

Spoiler

 

According to the rules the minimum stadium seating capacity should be 4500 and since our arena has only 4000 seats we had to play this home game in Riga. This fact might have affected the team somehow since it didn’t feel like we are truly on our home soil, but I guess the harsh truth is – the quality of our players is not there yet, to compete with the likes of Trabzonspor. Our 4-1 home loss showed it clearly. Trabzonspor opened the scoresheet on the 8^th minute when our defenders failed to create an offside trap and allowed Cornelius to beat our GK. Even though three minutes later Dodo got an equalizer in a similar fashion, it was obvious that the draw won’t remain for long. It took them 5 minutes to take back the lead. On the 42^nd minute, they scored the third goal, once again carving through our defence with quick one-twos. In the second half, they just controlled the game, scoring the fourth goal on the 73^rd minute when Djanini headed the ball into the net. I guess after that goal there remained no doubts about which team would progress to the next round, so it was better for us to focus on the domestic competitions instead.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 17.

Before we flew to Turkey for the second leg, there was an away game against BFC Daugavpils, who occupied the last position in the league. We had a good first half, scoring twice in a span of a few minutes. Pepple made it 1-0 scoring a goal after a lovely low cross and Marta headed one in from the corner doubling the lead and setting the final score of the game. Good reaction after a big midweek loss and we are still top of the league.

 

UEFA Europe Conference League 2021/22. 3^rd Qualifying Round. 2^nd leg.

Spoiler

Considering the outcome of the first leg, the goal was to enjoy the game as much as we could, trying to get the best possible result. Even if we were to lose again, I wanted the players to show that at least we wouldn’t go down without a fight. Also, not often did we get a chance to play in front of the ~23000 fans (only 3 of them being our supporters), so I wanted it to be a memorable day. Trabzonspor rotated half of the squad for this match, giving the chances to the youngsters. We had only one change – Šabala returned in the starting 11, after missing a week due to a gashed lower leg. On the 6^th minute, he made it clear how vital he became for our attack, assisting Dodo, who scored his 15^th goal of the season. As soon as we scored, Trabzonspor took control of the game and scored an equalizer on the 34^th minute. We could have gotten a second goal twice right after they scored, but a goal by Karašausks got ruled out because of an offside and Villela’s shot from close range was saved by the keeper. The first half ended in a draw, I reminded the players that there was no pressure on them, and we came out on the pitch to play the last 45 minutes of the European campaign. And my oh my, these were the most exciting 45 minutes I’ve seen so far this season.

52^nd minute – Dodo finds Karašausks with a through ball, who calmly puts the ball in the net.

60^th minute – Savaļnieks delivers a perfect cross in the box that gets headed towards the goal by Dodo. The keeper makes a mistake trying to catch the ball and it deflects into the net. I’m not a religious person, but this was the moment when I started praying. We needed only one goal to take it to the extra time and then maybe penalties, and we had 30 minutes to create a miracle.

83^rd minute – there was a throw-in close to Trabzonspor’s box. Tidenbergs found Ķigurs with a throw, who tried to lay it wide right first time to Šabala waiting on the edge of the box. The defender marking our striker got the ball but made a bad touch and Šabala stole the ball from him, entered the box from the right side and passed the ball to Dodo, who was already waiting for the ball in the goal area. He strikes the ball, and everyone goes mental – players, bench, me and those 3 fans who flew to Turkey to support us. Even though our 4-1 lead meant that there would be extra time played, celebrations were as if we already won the Conference League. But the whistle of the ref stopped all of that and reality hit us hard – the goal was disallowed. Offside... And we were back to 3-1.

While we were processing everything, Trabzonspor almost scored their second goal, but Ruiz did well to stop the shot. After such an emotional rollercoaster the players ran out of energy completely and created no more threat. We did get a great win against a strong opponent but there were still some mixed feelings and only one question remained on our minds - what if? I guess our moment will come at some point and we will get a memorable win.

 

Latvijas Kauss 2021. Fourth round.

Being knocked out of the Conference League allowed us to switch our focus completely. We finally entered the competition for the domestic cup and started our way from the fourth round where we play against Alberts from the second Latvian league. The level of our opponent allowed me to rotate the squad to see how our backup players can perform. Isajevs scored a header from the corner on the 6^th minute making it 1-0. Four minutes later the referee saw a foul by our right-back in the box and awarded a penalty. Their player hit the ball well and the score was level. 16^th minute – the ref has to award another penalty because Ķigurs was brought down in their box. He took the shot himself and it was a precise one, giving us a lead. The rest of the game goes under our control but the referee gives them a chance awarding one more penalty on the 88^th minute. The shot is successful and we go to extra time. By that time I have some of my starters already on the pitch, and they are the ones who make the difference. Karašausks head in a loose ball after a ricochet on the 91^st minute and Isajevs gets his second goal of the game, once again from the set piece – this time from the free kick. A good win, though extra time was unnecessary.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 18.

The home game against Riga completed the third round of the league matches meaning that we had to play last time this season against each of the teams. RFS had a draw against Valmiera the day before our game, which increased our chances for the title if we won our match against Riga. Our opponent was visiting us after a 120-minute thriller in the Europa League Playoff, where they came back against Ferencvaros and qualified for the group stage of the tournament. Morale might have been high, but the legs were tired and we took the advantage of that, winning the game 1-0, Šabala’s goal being a difference. We did lose Karašausks though due to injury, which spoiled the evening. He will be out for 5-8 weeks with a damaged knee cap. The other good news - this win secured us a spot in the Conference League next season, but we were hungry for more.

Matches of July and August 2021.

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Table and player stats after 18 games.

[Alma Mater]

Your team looks to be in great form! And I see your experience of the Conference was much like mine. Against those bigger teams, all you can do is fight bravely, and Liepaja clearly did. Getting to that part of the season where injuries start to become more frequent and influence outcomes - but on the other hand, the schedule should slow down now.

(My poor Valmiera down in fifth... I hope they recover.)

[equinøx]

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 19.

11/9/2021. Liepaja vs. Spartaks.

Finally, we got a chance to face Spartaks – the only team to beat us in the league. It was also a fan day and I suppose they were not disappointed with the football displayed. Šabala opened the score and Keita made it 2-0, scoring from the corner, giving us a comfortable lead before halftime. They looked fired up at the beginning of the second half and the game got tied already on the 56^th minute, but there was not much threat after that and Gordeychuk made the fans happy with a delightful volley finish, coming from the bench. 1 down, 5 to go.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 20.

18/9/2021. RFS vs. Liepaja.

This game was huge. A win here would pretty much mean we won the title because RFS had lost in the Riga derby in the previous week and we had a 4-point lead with 1 game in hand. The game didn’t start well, because Villela had to leave the pitch with a foot injury on the 16^th minute. His absence was felt because we couldn’t build our attacks properly. RFS were awarded a penalty before halftime and opened the score with a precise strike. We made some changes during the break and looked a lot better for the second half of the game but it was their defenders and goalkeeper who made the difference, stopping our attempts to score. Back to the 1-point difference, but we still have a game in hand.

 

Latvijas Kauss 2021. Quarter-final.

22/9/2021. Spartaks vs. Liepaja.

Can’t say we had the best mood before our ¼ final game with Spartaks, after suffering a defeat against RFS and losing Villela due to the injury, who got sidelined for 3 weeks with a sprained ankle. Šabala’s injury during the training made it even worse, leaving us without one of our main strikers for 5 weeks. All of that in the midst of the title race and the cup run… It looked like our resilience and will were tested, and we failed the test.

We lost 2-1 and were knocked out of the competition. Spartaks played better and deservedly came back in the second half after conceding a goal from Dodo on the 28^th minute. It could have been a 3-1 loss, but Ruiz saved a penalty right before the game finished.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 21.

25/9/2021. Liepaja vs. Metta.

It was time to have a team meeting to remind everyone how close we were to bring the title back to Liepaja. I couldn’t wish for a better opponent than Metta. With all due respect, we are a better team and should be winning the games consistently against them.

Pepple gave us a lead early in the game and Keita scored another header from the corner to make it 2-0 on the 13^th minute. I saw the team being confident and it was a good sign that we might recover and finish the job. Metta did get one back on the 61^st minute, but 6 minutes later Pepple restored the two-goal difference. Final score – 3-1. RFS lost their game to Spartaks and it allowed us to clinch the title with the win in the next game.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 22.

2/10/2021. Valmiera vs. Liepaja.

Another game, another team meeting. This time we knew for sure that a win will secure the title. Valmiera might have been struggling this season, losing the battle for European places in the league, but they are a great team, so it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

Well, I was wrong. As soon as we dealt with the early threat they posed, it was a walk in the park. Savaļnieks crossed the ball low to Belakovic, who gave us a lead 5 minutes before halftime. Dodo scored yet another goal of the season early in the second half and after their man was sent off on the 55^th minute, I think everyone understood that we were about to become champions of Optibet Virsliga. Who would have thought, that in less than a year I would be holding the first trophy? Simply speechless.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 23.

16/10/2021. Liepaja vs. BFC Daugavpils.

We played the last home game of the season, and it turned out to be a fun spectacle, mainly because BFC Daugavpils showed a great spirit and managed to get a draw late in the game, being 3-1 down. Torres had a good game, covering for Villela in central midfield and assisting twice to Tīdenbergs. Pepple scored again and probably will get his full-time contract for the next season.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Game 24.

27/10/2021. Riga vs Liepaja.

We finished our season with a match against Riga. Even though this game meant nothing in terms of the standings, I wanted to finish the season with a win, especially after the setback we experienced in our previous game. Dodo probably wanted to do the same, understanding that this was supposedly his last game for the club, so he scored a quick double, giving us a 2-0 lead already on the 15^th minute. I couldn’t have wished for a better start! 15 minutes later we were 3-2 down… The score remained unchanged, just like our attitude towards the game. Can’t say that I was happy giving away a 2-goal lead twice in the last two matches, so we will need to address this issue next season. But now I’ll let them celebrate the achievement.

 

Matches of September & October 2021.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2021. Final table and player stats.

Edited August 29, 2022 by equinøx

[equinøx]

16 hours ago, Alma Mater said:

Your team looks to be in great form! And I see your experience of the Conference was much like mine. Against those bigger teams, all you can do is fight bravely, and Liepaja clearly did. Getting to that part of the season where injuries start to become more frequent and influence outcomes - but on the other hand, the schedule should slow down now.

(My poor Valmiera down in fifth... I hope they recover.)

Thanks! It did feel like we were unbeatable most of the time, before those injuries started to occur and the calendar got congested. As soon as we started rotating the squad, the performance just wasn't there. I guess I am lucky we didn't get in a slump in the beginning of the season, because we could have easily lost the title if some of those close games early didn't go our way. And next year will be even tougher, since 3 more teams join the league...

European experience had everything in it. I loved and hated every second of it. I hope for the same next year in UCL qualifiers, but with a better outcome. We need that cash to improve the facilities.

Unlucky season for Valmiera. Unfortunately for them, we and Spartaks performed better than expected keeping them out of the top 4. But I reckon next year they will be back in discussion.

[Barneyinglis]

Nice good too see someone else doing a save here. 2 great pick ups at CB for next season. Hope you're enjoying the league as much as I have been. 

 

[equinøx]

Youth intake 2021.

A couple of games before the season was finished, at the end of September we had a youth intake in the club and I was excited to see what our academy could produce, though I had no high expectations, given the quality of the club’s youth facilities and the level of youth recruitment.

Spoiler

After the reports came in it was obvious that this year’s intake is average, but two guys did stand out. One of them is a technically gifted Latvian playmaker Kristaps Liepiņš. He has all of the skills required to come into the first squad as a rotational player, especially since the calendar will be a lot more congested next season.

The second player though is someone who simply made my jaw drop. I don’t know how did the French left winger/striker end up in our academy, but he is a godsend to our club. Meet Come Giabiconi:

Being only 16, he has the ability to be our best striker straight away. Honestly, I don’t know how long we will be able to keep this guy at our club, but I intend to do everything that’s in my power to make him stay in Liepaja for a while.

 

Transfers and contracts.

We had 4 players running out of contracts at the end of the season:

- Marko Simic, a 34-year-old Montenegrin central defender, who was part of the starting 11.

- Dodo, a 33-year-old Brazilian striker, who was our main attacking threat in the first half of the season, scoring plenty of goals.

- Mikhail Gordeychuk, a 32-year-old Belarus right winger, also part of the starting 11, who got the most assists (10) last season.

- Aleksandrs Solovjovs, a 33-year-old Latvian left-back, who joined our team in the middle of the season and provided cover for Marquinhos Pedroso.

We released all of them. Well, apart from Gordeychuk who signed a contract with Dinamo Minsk at some point during the season. Even if he didn’t sign one, I doubt we’d be offering him a new deal. Age was becoming an issue and I wasn’t ready to pay the requested wages.

It might seem to be a big loss that three starting 11 players left the club, but I believe we have the resources to fill in those empty slots next year.

Apart from them, Martin Marta, a 24-year-old Uruguayan left/central defender was sold, after we had a conflict with him. He was complaining about the lack of playing time and wanted a bigger role, but his requests were denied, so the best solution for both sides was a move. Deportivo Maldonado, a club from his country approached us with an offer, which we gladly accepted. It might be just 10K EUR, but as they say, every penny counts.

Since the season starts in early February next year, there is a 3-month break to think thoroughly about our squad depth and to fill in the gaps with new arrivals if needed.

[equinøx]

On 30/08/2022 at 11:45, Barneyinglis said:

Nice good too see someone else doing a save here. 2 great pick ups at CB for next season. Hope you're enjoying the league as much as I have been. 

 

Hi! Thanks for your comment!

It has been a different kind of experience compared to the usual saves I do in FM, and given the results, I am happy with how it is all going so far. I am actually quite excited about next season since we will have more opponents in the league.

There is also a big challenge in managing the finances of the club, especially the wages.

[equinøx]

Offseason.

It is 7^th of February 2022, which means that players are back from their vacation and we are ready to start the pre-season. There are some new faces joining the squad that there acquired during the offseason:

Aleksejs Saveļjevs, a 23-year-old central midfielder from Latvia, is another player we get for free from Riga. He will be covering for Strumia from time to time.

David Akintola Idowu, a 21-year-old Nigerian central defender, whom we bought from BFC Daugavpils for 110K EUR. He was their star player and it was obvious that he deserved a chance in a bigger club.

Eduards Daškevičs, a 19-year-old Latvian attacking midfielder, was signed from Norwegian second league club Hamarkameratene for 25K EUR. Will provide cover for attacking players. Slightly disappointed about his potential though, so the 3K EUR/month salary is a bit too much for him.

Diego Mosquera, a 21-year-old Columbian left attacking midfielder/striker. This player was recommended by our HOYD and I decided to gamble here, believing the feedback. We paid 35K EUR to Correcaminos, the club from the second league of Mexico, and 4K EUR/month to the player, but once he arrived at the club we realised that we paid too much and the quality I expected wasn’t there. Thankfully, we managed to loan him out straight away to Columbian Real Cartagena, who agreed to pay 80% of his wages.

Raimonds Krollis, a 20-year-old Latvian central attacking midfielder/striker. We were following him throughout all season last year and I am very delighted to welcome him to the club. Valmiera got 80K EUR (price may rise to 110K EUR) and we got one of the biggest Latvian talents, who will join Šabala in the attack.

Falilou Fall, a 23-year-old Senegalese left defender, is our latest addition, who joined the club right before the pre-season start. He is a recommendation of our new general manager – El-Hadji Diouf. We paid 40K EUR to get him to Liepaja and hopefully, he will provide a cover for Marquinhos Pedroso.

Spoiler

The only player leaving our club during the offseason was Vjačeslavs Ivanovs, a 28-year-old central defender, who was a backup option last year. Valmiera was generous enough to pay 60K EUR for him and we happily accepted the bid.

 

2022 pre-season.

We had almost a month to prepare for the season’s start. 5 games were played throughout the pre-season to build up the match sharpness and regain tactical knowledge. Even though we won all of the games, keeping a clean sheet in each game, games against Kauno Žalgiris and FC Inter were tough and we clearly were not supposed to win them according to xG stats. But it was our goalkeeper Ruiz, who played well in both of these games and gave us a chance to get the result. The only negatives were injuries of Villela and Pepple, but thankfully those were not very serious, so they are expected to miss a game or two.

Results of friendly matches.

Tactics and Best XI.

 

I suppose we are ready to defend our title and I am very excited about our chances. First stop – away game against BFC Daugavpils.

Edited September 6, 2022 by equinøx

[Alma Mater]

Clearly, Sabala is a little worried by the arrival of Krollis, so he decided to show he was the better goalscorer. Five in one game! (I'm assuming Rezekne is a much lower rated team.)

You have some very nice teamwork and technique on those teenagers, and Liepins is clearly a leader already while Giabiconi could probably make his way through the entire opposing midfield and defense all on his own... Impressive!

[equinøx]

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Season preview.

Media prediction

The board expectation for the season is the Top Half finish. Media prediction for this year – 3^rd place.

 

03/Jun/2022.

2022 Season so far. Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 1-17.

I have to say that the calendar this year is brutal. With 10 teams in the league from this year (Auda, FS Jelgava and Rēzekne are the new clubs to join) and 4 rounds being played, there will be 36 games played in total. The season starts early in March and finishes late in October, meaning that there are 8 months to complete it, but somehow, we ended up playing 12 games in 36 days in April/May. I wish I could speak with those people, who organize the schedule for the league.

We carried the pre-season form into the start of the league, winning the first three games comfortably. Win against RFS was the highlight of the first month, where we put on the show for the fans and dominated the whole game. Krollis was my player of the month for the team, scoring 4 goals in 3 games.

vs. RFS, 12/Mar/2022

April started with a win against Spartaks but it could have gone either way, because the game was even. Thanks to the two goals from the corners, we managed to secure the result.

Valmiera game was like the previous match but this time we were not that lucky, so the game finished as a draw with us losing the lead after giving up a penalty on the 65^th minute. Savaļnieks got injured being tackled and missed 2/3 weeks.

If an away draw against Valmiera was the result I’d take most of the time, a home draw against weaker Auda made me angry. Torres got a straight red card early in the second half, but we still managed to score on the 85^th minute taking a 1-0 lead. We just had to stay focused for a couple of minutes but we failed to do so, conceding on the 89^th minute. I think this was the first time I was throwing bottles in the locker room.

We bounced back with huge wins against Metta (5-0) and Rēzekne (7-2). Since we had a back-to-back game against Rēzekne, I was hoping for a third huge win to follow, but somehow they held us to a draw. More bottles were flying.

We might have been undefeated, but Riga won 8 games in the meantime, suffering their first defeat of the season in a derby against RFS, while we were failing to break Rēzekne’s defence. 9 games down – we were level on points with Riga.

Optibet Virsliga 2021. League table after 9 games.

Spoiler

Once again, the team responded well after a draw in the previous match, demolishing BFC Daugavpils 5-0 and finishing April strong. At this point, we already played 5 games in 14 days.

Clash with Riga was our first game in May and it was Šabala who shined bright and entertained 1100 fans, completing his hat-trick on the 88^th minute. A massive win against our title rival in an even match.

vs. Riga, 4/May/2022

Three days later we had a game against the second Riga club – RFS, who were slowly finding their rhythm, after losing twice in the first three games of the season. We were a lot fresher, compared to their squad and controlled the game easily, but their goalie stole the show, picking up POTM award. Šabala couldn’t repeat his performance this time and Krollis, who started the season with 4 goals in 3 games, failed to score a goal already in the 9^th game in a row.

vs. RFS, 7/May/2022

It already became a tradition to win big after drawing a game and this time it was FS Jelgava, who suffered a 5-1 defeat.

Two (!) days later we were playing again, this time against tough Spartaks. Judging by the performance of their players, I was happy to see that we were handling the congested schedule really well, but I was unhappy that we drew against a team who failed to register a single shot on target – 19(5) – 1(0), xG 2.03 – 0.23. Once again a goalie got a POTM award and it wasn’t our Ruiz.

The tradition of big wins after a tie ended in the game against Auda, who lost only 2-1. Why we scored only 2? Because of another POTM performance of the goalie, who saved 13 shots. Their only goal came in the stoppage time on the 90+2^nd minute and was followed by a dangerous moment the next minute. I almost had a heart attack, but Ruiz made a save worth 2 points.

A big win did happen though, 3 days later against Valmiera. Three goals by Villela scored before the 18^th minute, who was finding his form at that point of the season, meant the outcome of the game was determined. Šabala and Keita added a goal each, completing a 5-0 first-half dominant performance. The funny thing is that Valmiera failed to register a single shot on target but somehow ended up with a goal. How? Ruiz failed to handle the back-pass of our right fullback Karkļiņš and scored an own goal. At that exact moment, I experienced deja vu, because, in the game against FS Jelgava, we conceded an own goal while leading 5-0. Who scored? Ruiz. How? After he failed to handle a back-pass. Who made the pass? I guess you figured it out.

Finally, the so-awaited break was coming and it was just the game against Metta that was left. They were at the bottom of the table, we were sitting at the top and our 5-0 win reflected the difference between the two clubs.

To sum it up - 17 games, 12 wins, 5 draws, 41 points and 0 defeats. The future looked bright. We had a month to recover from that challenge, with the first game scheduled on the 18^th of June. And it was going to be a crucial one, against Riga who was only 1 point behind. RFS wasn’t far off with 38 points. With the transfer window opening in June and European football being right around the corner, it was going to be fun.

Optibet Virsliga 2021. League table and player stats after 17 games.

Edited September 10, 2022 by equinøx

[Alma Mater]

Yeah, the top three seem to be running away with it. Beating the teams from Riga is always difficult, their resources are simply better.

[equinøx]

Totally agree. Especially financially they're all safe. We do start to struggle and I plan to write about my thoughts on how to rectify the situation.

The only problem I see with Riga teams - the inability to register every single foreign player. It seems that they focus on getting players for European football, and some of the good players simply sit there in reserves.

Anyway, it has been fun so far and I am determined to stay in Liepaja for a while. 

[equinøx]

11/Aug/2022.

Summer recap. Almost.

Transfers and contracts.

The beginning of the summer meant that the transfer window was about to become open again. It also meant that Dominik Mulac, a 23-year-old Croatian central defender joined our team, for whom we paid 40K EUR. We needed someone who could start the attack from the back and he has the ability to do so. We do have 5 central defenders in the squad, so Idowu will be developed into the holding central midfielder, to take the place of Strumia in the future.

Not only the players were arriving at the club, but some were also leaving. Karašausks became my fourth/fifth option in attack after Krollis arrived and Giabiconi emerged from the youth ranks, so we successfully sold him, before his contract ran out for 33K EUR (with clauses 51K EUR). The same happened with Tkachuk, who become a fringe player and was sold for 8K EUR.

It was also a time to negotiate new contract deals. Šabala, Savaļnieks, Keita, Strumia, and Ķigurs got their new deals. I wish I could say the same about Marquinhos Pedroso, who has been an integral part of the team this year, but his successful performances brought the attention of Brazilian clubs, so he snubbed our offer and expressed the desire to move back to Brazil. I had to accept the incoming offers and he chose Juventude as his new club. We got 37K EUR (46K EUR with clauses), which seems to be a very low fee for a player of his quality, but at least it is not zero.

Ukpa Effiong Hogan was the other player, who decided to opt for the free agency and declined our contract offer. At least we managed to get some cash for the 20-year-old Nigerian U-20 international since Polish Puszcza agreed to pay 60K EUR for him. We also managed to agree on the sell-on clause of 10%. I hope he will shine in the Polish league and someone will come after him.

Due to these departures, we had to bring in another left full-back and left inverted winger. Christoph Martschinko, a 28-year-old Austrian left full-back, who played last season in Riga joined the team for free. We tried to sign him earlier before this season started, but his wage requirements were too much.

Milos Cudic, a 26-year-old Serbian left/right winger, also joined the team as a free agent and will provide needed depth on both of the wings.

Just before the transfer window was closed, Valmiera offered a contract to one of our talents from last year’s youth intake and gifted Latvian playmaker Kristaps Liepiņš decided that the amateur contract with Valmiera is better than a full-time deal from us. I suppose this was the biggest loss so far for me. Anyway, I will try to get him back after some time.

New signings.

Spoiler

2022 youth candidates preview.

As some philosophers would say — “For everything you have missed, you gained something else, blah-blah...”. Somehow it happened to be the truth because I couldn’t have been more excited when the preview of youth intake came in.

Golden generation!

We might have lost Liepiņš, but if it means that we receive a plethora of talents this year, I am okay with that. Can’t wait for September.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 18-23.

Our 17-game unbeaten run was going to be tested by Riga, who was our first opponent after the break. It happened to be a real spectacle because the game had everything in it. They took a 3-0 lead already on the 25^th minute, we managed to score 2 before halftime, and added a third one right after the second half started, tying the game. For a second I thought we broke them, but we conceded a penalty, Idowu got a straight red card, and there was no way back for us anymore. Riga scored another one in the stoppage time and we lost our first game of the season. Not the way to restart the season after the break, especially with European football looming over us. It was time for a new run.

A confident 2-0 win over BFC Daugavpils was supposed to be followed by another comfortable win, but somehow we managed to lose 2-1 to FS Jelgava at home, missing the penalty early in the game, and scoring only one of our 29 shots. This result meant that we became third in the league, losing the second spot to RFS, whom we had to play next.

Being the better team, RFS lost the game against us. We had just two moments throughout the game and managed to convert both. Ruiz helped us massively, saving the penalty after we took a 1-0 lead. Not the best performance, but a good result allowed us to take second place back from RFS.

Both Spartaks and Auda suffered 3-1 defeats against us. It looked like we found our form and it was the right time to do so because our Champions League campaign was about to start.

 

UCL 2022/2023. Champions Path – First Qualifying Round. Game 1.

I must say we got unlucky with the draw because I believe there were plenty of teams that are weaker than Slovenian champions Maribor. But it is what it is and we will fight for the opportunity to progress further.

The first match was played in Slovenia and so we had to approach the game cautiously. I must say I expected more from Maribor, the team who has experience playing in the group stage of the UCL. They had a lot of possession, but they couldn’t create goal-scoring opportunities. This allowed us to score in one of the counters before halftime, when Villela picked up a through ball and rounded the keeper in a one-on-one situation. The second half was no different. But, as it often happens, we conceded a late goal, after giving away a penalty. I was disappointed, even though it was a 1-1 draw in an away game.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 24.

The game against Valmiera was right between both games in UCL and obviously, we had to rotate the squad heavily. Ķigurs and Ruiz were the heroes of the game since the first scored the only goal of the match and the second denied another penalty, which was given to Valmiera on the 87^th minute after they went down to 10 men.

 

UCL 2022/2023. Champions Path – First Qualifying Round. Game 2.

The result of the first match and the performance of the team gave me confidence that we can achieve something. This time not only we were having more chances, but we also controlled the ball much better, and after Šabala scored a goal on the 32^nd minute I believed that we achieve something in this tie. Even though we maintained the level of our performance in the second half, we did concede a goal on the 55^th minute, and after we missed some good chances to win it, the game headed to extra time. At that point everything could have happened and unfortunately, it was not our day, because Maribor scored a header on the 115^th minute, which was the winning goal. We were all gutted. Maribor went further but we still had a shot in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

 

UECL (UEFA Europa Conference League) 2022/2023. Champions Path – Second Qualifying Round. Game 1.

We had a week to recover physically and morally, before playing away against HB (Havnar Boltfelag), a club from the Faroe Islands.

Also, I decided to sign a new goalkeeper. Ruiz is a decent goalkeeper, but there is no consistency in his performances. One day he can be a hero, the next time he will concede the only shot from the opposing team. We needed someone to rely on, so we brought a 32-year-old Romanian goalkeeper, Catalin Straton, who joined the club as a free agent.

It took us 80 minutes to break their defence, but as soon as we did, we scored 3 goals in quick succession. That gave me a lot of confidence before the second leg.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 25.

The next stop was Rezekne. Again, we had to rotate the squad and it affected the way we played. We still got a 2-1 win and that’s the only thing that mattered since we were still in the race for the title with Riga.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Champions Path – Second Qualifying Round. Game 2.

Another 3-0 win against HB secured us a spot in the next round. This time we didn’t wait for the 80^th minute to score and opened the scoresheet already on the 4^th minute of the game, after an own goal. Keita added another goal on the 29^th minute and Daškevičs put an end to the match, scoring on the 87^th minute.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Champions Path – Third Qualifying Round. Game 1.

A week later, we had a game in the Third Qualifying Round against Glentoran from Northern Ireland and it was again an away game first. Another 3-0 win was secured and it looked like they were no match for us. I expected more of the same in the second leg.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 26.

The game against weaker Metta meant that we were rotating the whole roster again. I believed that our backup players had enough quality to produce the result, but they failed to do so and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Huge loss of points here and after our second leg in the UECL, we play against Riga, who can extend their lead to 7 points if they win and make a big step toward the title.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Champions Path – Third Qualifying Round. Game 2.

Just like I was expecting, we secured another confident 3-0 win against Glentoran but this time at home. What I didn’t expect – the injuries of Ķigurs and Savaļnieks, who had to leave the pitch already on the 7^th and 13^th minute respectively. Both got sidelined for two-three weeks with pulled ankle ligaments and this was a huge problem since for the next two-three weeks we had the following schedule:

These were going to be the season-defining two-three weeks, and there was going to be a lot at stake – league title, 3M EUR of cash (6 times more than our current balance) from qualification to the group stage and a cup title, which I’d be happy to give away to have a lighter schedule, but the board expects us to reach the final of the cup.

 

Schedule so far. Jun/2022 - 11/Aug/2022.

Spoiler

 

To be continued...

Edited September 15, 2022 by equinøx

[equinøx]

28/Aug/2022.

Two weeks which defined the season (and probably the future of the club).

 

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Game 27.

The game against Riga was very important for our title race because they were sitting on top of the table, 4 points ahead of us. Losing this game would have damaged our chances to come up first in the league, with just nine games left. They lost in the second round of UECL, so they were on a one-game-per-week schedule, which made them a clear favourite for the title.

It looked like our previous game against them didn’t teach us a thing, because already in the 8^th minute we were 1-0 down after Gabriel Ramos scored a header, but rather than conceding 3 early goals, we turned the tide and equalized already 2 minutes later - Strumia found Krollis in the box with the through ball, who easily placed the shot in the bottom corner. We took control of the game and played some lovely football, which resulted in Krollis scoring another one in the 35^th minute. It turned out to be a winning goal in the end because Riga failed to score in the second half, even though they were in control of the game, while we just defended the lead. 1 point behind, 9 games left.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Champions Path – Fourth Qualifying Round. Game 1.

This was the first time we had the first leg being played at home. Honestly, I wasn’t that happy, given the fact that we faced Azerbaijani champion Qarabag and getting a bad result at home against a clear favourite, would complicate things a lot.

It took us around 20 minutes to calm ourselves down and start playing properly. 8 minutes later, Krollis who was brilliant against Riga, opened the scoresheet, after Villela played a lovely ball over the defence. Right at the beginning of the second half, he added a second one, stealing a ball from the defender after a bad first touch. There were moments when we could have scored the third goal, but the tide turned and Qarabag scored in the 75^th minute after Keita missed the header. 3 minutes before the stoppage time and Qarabaq made it 2-2 after a failed clearance. Luckily they didn’t score the third one, so we would still have some chances in Baku if we performed well and remained focused.

 

Latvijas Kauss 2022. Fourth Round.

This was the round when the clubs from Optiber Virsliga joined the cup tie and we were drawn against semi-professional club Spēks. The difference in class was obvious – 5-0 on the scoresheet, 33 shots (14 on goal) – 4 shots (none on goal). We were just too good for them. In the next round, though, we would play against Riga, which is a different test.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Champions Path – Fourth Qualifying Round. Game 2.

A game worth 3 million EUR was next, and we had to play it in the hostile atmosphere in Baku. At that point in time, the club’s balance sheet had 480K EUR on it. With wage expenditure being almost twice as much, the projection was not great. We don’t get 4M EUR per year like Riga does from sponsorship deals, so it was important for the club’s future to get a result here. The good news was the return of Savaļnieks and Ķigurs, who recovered from their injuries and were able to play 60 minutes according to our physios, so we had the strongest possible 11 on the pitch.

I guess the first leg showed the players that they can perform and get the result against stronger opponents, so there was no fear in the actions of the players. Seydina Keita, the club’s captain took the matter into his own hands and scored yet another header from the corner in the 15^th minute. Qarabag had a couple of chances to equalize, missing a one-on-one opportunity in the 36^th minute, but it was Krollis again, who made their life complicated in the 38^th minute, after scoring a powerful shot from outside the box. The game went back and forth right until the end, and while Qarabag was wasting their opportunities, we converted another chance, when Belakovic found himself being open on the far post and scored a header in the 72^nd minute to put this game to bed. I don’t think anybody expected us to get the result in Baku, but we did finish the game with a 3-0 win against the Azerbaijani champion, who had multiple years of experience in European competitions, qualified for the group stage of the tournament (for the first time in club’s history) and saved the finances of the club by adding 2.92M EUR.

 

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Game 28.

I wish I could have given the players a couple of days of rest, but there was a game against RFS, after 3 days, who were 3 points behind us and were still in the race for the title, also having a less congested schedule

Krollis who finally became a dominant force up front had two chances to score in the 19^th minute, but both close-range shots were saved by the goalie. RFS responded with a dangerous moment of their own in the 29^th minute, but the shot hit the crossbar. It was only in the 74^th minute when the first goal of the game was scored and it was RFS taking the lead after a lovely build-up play on the left flank. Our defenders were caught napping and Friesenbichler got in behind their backs, beating our goalkeeper at the near post. Our players were exhausted, we didn’t create much, so I was ready to accept the loss, but it was Šabala and Krollis, who came to the rescue in the 83^rd minute when the first picked up a ball on the left flank and made a cross in the box, and the second finished with a header, beating the defender to the ball. 1-1 seemed like a fair result at the end of the day. Riga won their game, so it was a 3-point difference. Since we still had to play them in the last matchweek, the champion potentially could have been decided in that game. And obviously, we couldn’t write off RFS.

Schedule so far. 14/Aug/2022 - 28/Aug/2022.

League table after 28 games.

Edited September 20, 2022 by equinøx

[equinøx]

3/Nov/2022.

End of the year update.

Optibet Virsliga 2022. Games 29-36.

Schedule and results.

Spoiler

The plan for the remaining games was simple – win all of them and hope that Riga loses points in their games. There was still a game to be played against them, so in case we both won our games, a win against them would guarantee us 1^st place if our goal difference was better.

A 5-1 win against BFC Daugavpils was a good way to start our run and the mood got only better after the news that Riga lost their game. A 1-0 win against Jelgava was not the result I hoped for, given that we played as well as against BFC Daugavpils, but once again the good news arrived – Riga lost second in a row, and it meant that we were already ahead by 3 points and that we just had to win the games without even thinking about what our opponents would do.

Title race heads to the wire.

Spoiler

Valmiera was the next one to fall – a 3-0 win. This time we scored even more than we should have because they did a good job limiting the number of chances we had. Players felt that the title was close, so in the next three games, we simply demolished our opponents – 6-2 against Auda, 8-2 against Metta and 6-0 against Rezekne.

We just needed a win at home against Spartaks to secure the title and players decided not to wait for too long, securing a 3-0 lead before halftime – a double by Krollis and a lovely goal by Šabala, who curled one in the top corner from around 30 meters. Keita, our captain, scored the last goal, setting the final score of the game – 4-0. The title remained in Liepaja this year and the last game against Riga was just a formality, however, we managed to win it when our youngster Giabiconi scored a winning goal in the 83^rd minute. Riga finished the season in third place, letting RFS pass, who seemed to be in better form at the end of the season.

Another title for Liepaja.

 

Liepaja players' stats in Optibet Virsliga 2022.

 

UECL 2022/2023. Group Stage. Games 1-6.

Schedule and results.

Spoiler

While the other Latvian clubs could focus on the internal competitions, since they all were knocked out at the qualifying stage, we had to compete in the UECL group stage, for the first time in the club’s history.

Tough group draw.

In my opinion, we were handed a relatively tough group, though I think there were no weak groups in there we could have wished for – Basel, Omonia and Slovan Bratislava. The expectations were low – just perform the best we could, so that we could snatch a win or a draw against one of the teams and earn some cash (500K EUR per win and 166K EUR per draw).

The first game in the group stage was against Basel, probably the group favorite. There wasn’t much action in the game, with each team having a chance to score in the first half, but in both cases, goalkeepers stopped the close-range shots. The second half had even fewer moments and if Villela didn’t score the stunning goal in the 72^nd minute, the game might have ended as a draw rather than a 1-0 win we secured.

The away game against Omonia was supposed to be our first loss of the group stage, but Krollis got an equalizer in the 90+4^th minute after he picked up a loose ball in their box and blasted it past the keeper and set the final score – 2-2.

I thought that we ran out of luck in the game against Omonia and the loss is just around the corner, but 4-2 win and 1-0 win (Martschinko got a red card in the 59^th minute) against Slovan Bratislava followed, and suddenly we sit in the first place of the group with a massive chance to qualify for the knockout stage with extra 1.66M EUR of cash looted.

And the wins just kept coming. A 2-0 win against Omonia and a 2-1 comeback win against Basel meant that we secured first place in our group and qualified for the spring stage of the UECL, straight to the Second Knockout Round, which would take place in March 2023. By the way, we were still unbeaten in the UECL this season – 5 wins and 1 draw in the qualifying stage and 5 wins and 1 draw in the group stage.

Final group standings.

Latvijas Kauss 2022.

Schedule and results.

Spoiler

As I mentioned before, we were drawn against Riga in the quarter-final of the Latvian cup. Even though the minimum goal for the season was the final, I had to sacrifice this tournament to make sure we have enough energy to compete in the league and Europe. That is why I wasn’t expecting a win against Riga, who had almost all of their best players on the pitch, but Pepple’s early goal in the 2nd minute was the difference in a fairly even match.

Looks like we saved all of the entertainment for the semi-final, where we competed against Valmiera and played well, but I guess the goal against Omonia in the 90+4^th minute haunted us because Valmiera came back from being 3-1 down and scored a very unlikely goal right at the same minute mark after Keita tried to clear the ball, which hit the back of Valmiera’s striker and got right into the feet of Teixeira, who sent the game to the extra time. 30 scoreless minutes later it was a penalty shoot-out, which we lost 3-1.

RFS went to win the cup in the final, beating Valmiera.

Latvijas Kauss review.

Edited September 25, 2022 by equinøx