Once again, Valmiera FC’s journey in the 11.lv Latvian Cup ends at the quarter-final stage, suffering a painful 3-4 loss in front of their home fans at Jānis Daliņš Stadium against FC RFS.
The battle for a spot in the semi-finals against the current leading football club in Latvia turned out to be highly engaging and eventful. In the first half, the most interesting moments occurred in its latter part. First, the visitors took the lead in the 34th minute after a set-piece situation. The home team responded with a goal by Jérémy Porsan-Clémenté, but unfortunately, the referee Edgars Maļcevs found a foul by Alioune Ndoye in the buildup, disallowing the goal. However, just before the halftime whistle, Valmiera succeeded with a second attempt—Emīls Birka’s cross from the left was finished by Lukass Vapne, making it 1-1 as the teams headed into the break.
Starting the second half, RFS made three substitutions, and in the 53rd minute, their reorganization paid off with a goal—the former Valmiera captain Daniels Balodis was the quickest in the Valmiera penalty area, sending an unstoppable shot past Dāvis Ošs. Gatis Kalniņš responded with a triple substitution in the 58th minute, bringing on Carlos Duke, Jason Bahamboula and Djibril Gueye. Soon after, Jason nearly scored, but unfortunately, his header struck the crossbar.
Rostand Ndjiki, however, did not miss his opportunities, showcasing impressive individual skill to single-handedly extend RFS’s lead to 4-1 with goals in the 59th and 70th minutes.
It seemed like the game was over, and it was just a matter of finishing with dignity, but Valmiera’s eleven had other plans, with Ošs still in goal despite his injury. In the 71st minute, Bahamboula didn’t waste his second chance and headed the ball into the net. Five minutes later, Gueye reduced the deficit to one goal, being the first to reach the ball after Fabrice Ondoa’s save.
In the remaining time, Valmiera pushed hard to unlock Ondoa’s goal once more but without success. Duke was brought down in the penalty area, but the referee’s whistle remained silent, as it did earlier in the half when a similar situation involved Meissa Diop. However, the whistle did blow in the sixth minute of stoppage time, denying the home team any final opportunities after the opponents had wasted over two minutes of the added six by lying on our stadium’s grass.
We’ll relive the Cup dream next year, but for now, we must continue chasing the Riga clubs in the Virslīga standings. On Saturday, August 24th, at 14:00, we have a game in Tukums.
