The Latvian national football team played against England for the first time and lost the match 0-3. One standout player was goalkeeper Krišjānis Zviedris, who was making his second appearance for the national team. He made several impressive saves during the game, earning praise from pundits on ITV 1. After the match, he admitted in the mix zone that he had never experienced such stress before a game.
“I did everything in my power; the result was as it was. I don’t know, I couldn’t do anything more,” the opening words from Zviedris in the mix-zone after the game.
“I’ll be honest, there was quite noticeable stress before the game. I hadn’t felt that way for a long time, but after we went out to the field with the game mascots to line up, the stress passed, and I was already enjoying it and getting goosebumps,” Zviedris shared about his pre-game anxiety. “This was my first game at this level. For the first five minutes, it felt like everything was happening on the field. The pace was completely different, and we were sitting deep in defense from the start, but after a while, we adapted.”
The goalkeeper also praised the more than 2,000 Latvian fans who attended, noting, “The English fans who came might have been shocked by the great support.”
When asked when he had that much of a job to do in goal, the Riga FC goalkeeper replied, “It’s hard to say. Really tough question to answer.” He saved five of eight shots from the England stars, three of which were high-quality saves.
British national television ITV 1 pundits for the game included Arsenal legend Ian Wright and Manchester United great Roy Keane, who praised Krišjānis Zviedris’s first-half performance. When asked about the compliment from such big names in football, he smiled and said, “This is the first time I have heard this [about the praise from Keane and Wright]. Obviously, it’s a great feeling when people speak positively about me or my performance, so I’m really proud of that.”
Krišjānis Zviedris is now returning to Riga to continue the Virsliga season. When asked whether it will be difficult to return to the Virsliga fields after such an event like this at Wembley, Krišjānis replied, “Of course, it will be difficult, but that’s our reality; we play there every day. We have to take the best we can from this game and continue playing for the club.”
The Latvian national team’s next matches are scheduled for June, which will include a friendly against Azerbaijan and a World Cup qualifier against Albania. When asked if he feels he has solidified his status as Latvia’s first-choice goalkeeper following these two games, Zviedris responded, “I’m not thinking about that right now; my priority is to return home and focus on my club.” He added, “I can’t say, ‘Yes, I am the first goalkeeper in the national team…’ No, it’s not like that. There is still time until the next training camp, and I will need to prove myself again.”