by Gregors Spricis
The end of the Virsliga’s third lap marks the start of the first international break of the new 2025/26 football season. Latvia will continue their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, hosting struggling Serbia before traveling to face Albania in Tirana.
Squad selection
Last week, Paolo Nicolato announced the 25-man squad for the September fixtures. The roster saw three changes compared to the one in June.
Team captain Kristers Tobers was replaced by Roberts Veips, who received his first-ever call-up to the senior national team. In an interview with LFF, he shared his thoughts about the first few days with the team:
“I’ve adapted very well, have got used to the rhythm, and I’m looking forward to every training session.”
Tobers is still recovering from an injury but is expected to return to action around late September, when Aberdeen will kick-start their UEFA Conference League campaign.
Apart from Tobers, only two more changes were made. Roberts Savaļnieks replaced Vjačeslavs Isajevs, while Gļebs Žaleiko was replaced by Dario Šits, who just recently joined Atletico Madrid’s B team. During the previous international break, Dario was suspended and therefore unable to join the squad. However, he is now back in action after a pre-season with Parma and aims to secure all three points against Serbia.
“They [fans] have to be with us on Saturday so together we can get those three points.”
Meanwhile, Frenks Orols became the first-ever player from FK Grobiņa to get called up to the national team. Other players who weren’t selected are injured Roberts Uldriķis and Raimonds Krollis.
A look into the opponents
Serbia
Being ranked 32nd in the FIFA rankings doesn’t really show the harsh reality of the Serbia national team. The reason for that is the head coach Dragan Stojkovič, who’s been in charge since 2021.
The frustration about the results and dissatisfaction about his leadership and tactics are not only publicly addressed by the fans but also by the players. As a result, many crucial national team players have not been called up during he past few international breaks due to the tensions between them and the manager Stojkovič.
These players include the likes of Sergej Milinkovič-Savič (Al-Hilal), Vanja Milinkovič-Savič (Napoli), and Dušan Tadič (Al-Wahda). Ex-captain Tadič event went as far as retiring from the national team, which only made the situation much worse.
The squad is still, nevertheless, filled with talent featuring such players as Dušan Vlahovič (Juventus), Aleksandar Mitrovič (Al-Rayyan), Nikola Milenkovič (Nottingham Forest), Strahinja Pavlovič (AC Milan), Filip Kostič (Juventus), and also some familiar faces for Riga FC fans – Veljko Birmancevič. The Sparta Prague forward is mostly known for his performances against Riga in the UECL qualifiers this season, playing 90 minutes in both matches and grabbing an assist in the first leg.
Problems are not only on but also off the pitch, as Serbia had an unconvincing World Cup run in 2022 and UEFA European Championship in 2024, finishing last in their respective group on both occasions. Despite the bad performances, Stojkovič has kept his job, which has caused lots of frustration from the fans.
Serbia haven’t lost for almost a whole year, last time doing so last October when they suffered a 3:0 loss to Spain. Since then, they’ve only won or drawn, with their last five matches being two wins and three draws.
In this qualifying campaign, they’ve played just two matches – a 0:0 draw against Albania away and a 3:0 win at home versus Andorra.
Albania
Led by the Brazilian Sylvinho, the Albanian national team is a more well-known side for the Latvians, as both sides already faced each other in June. The game in Riga ended as a 1:1 draw, but could’ve turned out much differently if it wasn’t for Jānis Ikaunieks’ missed penalty.
Same as Serbia, Albania also haven’t been in the best form lately. After having a great qualifying campaign for the 2024 European Championship and putting up a great fight in the final tournament, the fans aren’t very much to liking of their current style of play.
In a short match review for LV futbols Patreon after the duel in June, an Albanian journalist highlighted the frustration of Sylvinho’s starting XI selection as well as the lack of threat in attack compared to the 2024 European Championship and its qualifiers.
Albania have already played four qualifying matches – the most out of any team in Group K – the single win being against Andorra, draws against Latvia (1:1) and Serbia (0:0), while the loss came against England (0:2). On Thursday, Albania underwent a friendly match against Gibraltar due to having just one qualifying match in this international break. They won by a minimal margin of 1:0 thanks to a penalty by Jasir Asani.
Predicted line-up & results
At the start of the week, Paolo Nicolato addressed the micro-injuries for numerous squad players as well as singled out Antonijs Černomordijs’ disqualification in the match against Serbia, so the final verdict about the starting XI will be made at the very last moment.
However, for the game against Serbia at home, we predict the classical five-defender formation with Zviedris starting in goal. The three centre-back partnership would consist of Jurkovskis, Balodis, and Veips, while the full-back positions would be taken by Andrejs Cigaņiks and Roberts Savaļnieks. As wide midfielders, it would be Varslavāns and Zelenkovs, with Saveļjevs and Ikaunieks, who would be given more freedom, playing under Dario Šits instead of Gutkovskis, who hasn’t made an appearance in South Korea since July.
This game could turn out in two different directions. Latvia could take advantage of Serbia’s bad form and disagreements inside the locker room between the players and the coach, and travel to Albania with at least a point. Or Serbia will still turn out to be too good for them. With the fans by their side, we think it’s a great opportunity and a must to use it and go for something, at least a draw.
For Albania, considering it’s a weaker side, Nicolato, and his men could go more attacking, but considering the fact they’ll be playing in Tirana, we expect that they’ll stick to 4-5-1. The only change in the starting XI would be Černomordijs, who would come in for Veips following the return from his suspension.
Playing away in Albania will be tough, as many sides have struggled there in recent games. Bookmakers will surely have the hosts as favourites, so coming out with even a point would be considered a success.
