Republic of Ireland vs Latvia

Dublin’s Aviva Stadium is the venue as the Republic of Ireland and Latvia go head-to-head in a low-profile international friendly.

After failing to qualify for any major tournament since Euro 2016, the Republic of Ireland will be desperate to turn things around in the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers. However, Stephen Kenny’s men have performed in patches lately, alternating between victories (2) and defeats (2) in their last four internationals following a 1-1 away draw against Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League in June 2022. Despite their ever-growing problems with inconsistent performances, the ‘Boys in Green’ have been regular ‘entertainment providers,’ with three of their last four outings seeing over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Another high-scoring contest is well on the cards, considering each of their five historic meetings with Latvia has featured at least three goals, with Ireland coming out on top every time.

In the meantime, Baltic minnows Latvia seek amends for a lackluster four-game form down the final stretch of the last calendar year (D2, L2 – 90mins only) as they hope to mount an unlikely Euro 2024 qualification challenge later this month. Yet to reach the World Cup finals, the Latvians at least qualified for the European Championship in 2004, which to this date remains an unmatched achievement in the country’s football history. Given Latvia’s astonishing seven-match unbeaten run away from home (W4, D3), there’s hope they could turn their fortunes around. Defensively robust, Dainis Kazakevics’ men have kept an eye-catching four clean shetes on their last seven international travels, conceding precisely once on two the remaining three. That newly-discovered defensive resilience could help the visitors avoid conceding 2+ goals against Ireland for the first time.