Latvia’s squad was left visibly frustrated after squandering a chance for victory against Andorra, settling for a 2-2 draw. Goalkeeper Krišjānis Zviedris and defender Daniels Balodis spoke to the media in the mixed zone after the match, sharing their candid reactions.
“To be honest? It sucks. Really, it’s disappointing,” Zviedris admitted. “I don’t even know what else to say – sad, frustrating, a real letdown. On the first goal, the Andorran tapped it over me from a meter away – I watched the video later, and there was basically no way to react unless he had hit me directly. The second goal was really awkward – he hit it precisely between my legs. Watching it again, I stepped forward, then stepped back because I realized I couldn’t come out, and then he finished it perfectly.”
The keeper admitted that the team struggled to find its rhythm in the opening stages. “Until those first goals, nothing was clicking. We played very poorly. After that, we adjusted and started to get something going. Why do we usually start games so passively? Maybe we lack belief in ourselves – we step onto the pitch and don’t fully trust that we can play. Only after some minutes do we begin to feel the flow of the game.”
Daniels Balodis also expressed his dissatisfaction with both the performance and the result. “It’s an unsatisfying outcome, and the game itself wasn’t great. In some moments, we played well, but that’s no excuse when the score ends up like this,” he told Baltic Football News.
On the slow start, Balodis added: “Andorra were well-prepared, aggressive, and compact defensively. We were feeling our way around, trying to find open spaces and ways to break them down. It only started to click in the second half when they couldn’t sprint as much and weren’t as compact, and when we moved the ball better.”
He rejected the idea that this game undoes the team’s previous strong performances against Serbia and Albania. “You could see the good football we can play in the second half. The scoreboard didn’t reflect it, but the effort and the play were still there.”
Latvia has struggled in several recent matches with sluggish first halves compared to stronger second-half performances. Balodis believes the reasons vary and that the players themselves need to understand why it happens. “When we’re chasing the game, it sometimes works to our advantage because we have nothing to lose,” he added.
Source: https://sportacentrs.com/futbols/latvijas_izlase/11102025-zviedris_pec_andoras_teikt_godigi_nu_d_i_
