After the match of the 28th round of the Optibet Virsliga, in which Valmiera FC beat the Riga FC team with a score of 3:1, the players of our team – goalkeeper Rihards Matrevics and Ivans Zhelizko – were invited to a conversation with ”Futbolbumbas”.
Matrevics was the first to appear in front of the camera for the conversation.
How much do goalkeepers look at the standings?
“I won’t lie, it’s cooler, it’s more pleasant that this game means something, there are more emotions. You can also see that the fans feel it before the game. There are people, there is an atmosphere, it is easier to play a good game because it is much more enjoyable.”
Apart from your daily workouts, what is the homework you do to prepare for the opponent?
“Our goalkeeper coach now and then prepares a training session, respectively for a player who could be more dangerous for the opponents. In my opinion, in football, if you prepare too much for one player, he will always do the opposite – if you close the far corner, he will go for the close corner. That’s why I play according to the situation. Of course, we also study penalty kicks.”
In the second minute, the team took the lead, you gave the assist to Camilo Mena. Tell me about that episode.
”It was pure instincts. They were very spread out and Raimonds came on to the feet to ask for the ball, I saw that the center back was coming with him. Instead of going to his feet, I played a good pass to Mena, in the live zone, where his speed did the rest.”
Zhelizko also received the first question about the game that was just played – How important was the game, what did you expect?
”Expectations were normal because we want to win every game. The preparation was good because we lost points against Liepaja and we wanted to turn it around against Riga.”
Riga has several talented players in attack, how did you deal with it?
“They were good. They were good with the ball but we can take their pressure. We played well. In the first half, we scored one goal and then gave the ball to the Riga team. what can I say our defense did a good job.”
We saw that Matrevics gave a great pass to Mena, maybe he should continue to start the attacks instead of you?
“Then I’ll be a very happy guy. If he can start like this all the time, it will be good for the team.”
