FK Auda head coach Jurgis Kalns left little doubt about his intentions after his side were hammered 6–0 by Riga FC on Sunday. Instead of apologising for the collapse, he claimed the game had been sacrificed as part of a psychological ploy ahead of Wednesday’s Latvian Cup semi-final against RFS.
“Today’s game wasn’t important for us,” Kalns insisted. “It was all about RFS. To f*ck the brain of RFS a little bit, let them think.”
Pressed on whether his tactical plan amounted to simply losing on purpose, Kalns replied: “To give the chance to show the players which we signed in the summer transfer window… let everybody, the selectors, the journalists, the other teams see who we got. And you see the reality.”
Excuses piling up
It is not the first time Kalns has offered controversial explanations after a bad result. Following Auda’s early exit from the UEFA Conference League at the hands of Larne this summer, he argued European competitions were “not important”. Now, after one of the club’s heaviest defeats in recent memory, he has framed it as a mind game with their cup rivals.
Kalns went on to complain about the state of his squad, pointing to missing players and a lack of commitment from others. “We don’t have centre midfielders for this game. We had just one proper centre midfielder, Ibrahim Kane. A lot of players played their first minutes of the season or first minutes after a long, long period.”
He also questioned the mentality of some of his squad: “A lot of those players, their contracts end at the end of the season. Do they care about Auda? I think they care about their careers… not all of them, but some. Sometimes I stop individual training sessions with the words ‘I don’t want to waste my time.’ That’s the situation we are in.”
Kalns even went as far as to describe his current working environment as the worst of his career: “This environment where I’m working is the lowest in my career. Even the first division in Latvia, where I was before, the structure and responsibility of everyone was on a much higher level.”
Riga focus on performance
While Auda’s coach lashed out, Riga FC’s Adrián Guľa struck a completely different tone. He praised his side’s ability to raise their tempo after the international break, scoring four second-half goals to complete the rout.
“The second half was special,” Guľa said. “We played full gas, hungry to score, hungry to win. A very good team performance. In the first half we were not at the top, but after the break we improved a lot. The reaction was very good, also from the players who came from the bench.”
Asked why he did not use the opportunity to give more minutes to Riga’s under-21 players once the game was secure, Guľa was blunt: “For me it’s not about age. If you are ready, I give you the opportunity. But right now our full focus is to win the league and the cup. Some of my top players didn’t play today and they deserve those minutes too. Youth development needs systematic work over a longer period.”
All eyes on Wednesday
The contrast between the two benches could hardly be sharper: one coach praising hunger and professionalism, the other admitting his team is fractured and playing down a six-goal loss as a strategic sacrifice.
Auda now face RFS in the Latvian Cup semi-final on Wednesday, and Kalns’ words have guaranteed all eyes will be on that match. If his team fail to deliver, his attempt to “f*** the brain of RFS” may come back to haunt him — and further fuel criticism that his excuses are starting to overshadow results.
