Wales – Latvia

Latvia will be able to hold back the attacking fervour of the Welsh

The Welsh players approach the second game of the European Championship qualifiers with their heads held high. Despite their provisional status as only the third-ranked team in Group D, the Welsh played their first qualifying match on the field of the world's third-ranked team in Qatar and managed to snatch points from them. Kramaric scored for Croatia in the 28th minute of the game and sealed the home side's overall game advantage. However, with less than a minute remaining before the final whistle, the Croatian defenders intercepted Brodhead, who headed the ball into the net from just outside the penalty box to make it 1-1. Latvia missed their first qualifying match, but they did not sit idly by. The Baltic national team tried to model their game in Cardiff against another British team, Ireland. In Dublin, the Latvians conceded two goals by the 17th minute but managed to get back into the game before the first half ended. In the second half, the Irish kept their heads and scored the winning goal to make it 3-2. In the upcoming game, bookmakers decided the home side as the clear favourites, offering odds of 1.24 to win. The Welsh team finished second in the 2021 World Cup qualifying group with Belgium and the Czech Republic. The Welsh were unable to build on their relative success by winning the qualifying play-offs. In Qatar, Robert Page's side finished worst in a quartet with England, the United States and Iran. Gareth Bale played his last game for the national team against England. Before the trip to the World Cup, the Welsh team had failed on their debut in the Ligue A of the Nations, where they finished last behind the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. The Welsh have made a good start to the new qualifying campaign but have not featured a sparkling game for a long time. Latvia finished fifth in the group in World Cup qualifying, only beating Gibraltar. Last year, in League D of the Nations League, the Latvians beat fellow "dwarf" Liechtenstein and Andorra to win a place in League C for next season. The Latvian national team's squad is worth 13 times less than that of their rivals. However, Kazakevic's men can lock up defensively, as they have repeatedly demonstrated in past years.