In the last match before the international break, Valmiera FC hosted FK Metta at Jānis Daliņš Stadium, securing a convincing 4-0 victory over the visitors from Riga.
By the 16th minute of the game, the score was already 2-0. First, in the 8th minute, birthday boy Lūkass Vapne, after receiving a pass from Djibril Gueye, disappointed his former (actual de facto) club, leaving Alvis Sorokins with no chance to save. The second goal also came from good interplay by Valmiera—Carlos Duke delivered a cross from the left flank, which Gueye converted with a header.
The scoreline in the first half didn’t fully reflect the true state of play on the field—Andris Riherts’ team created several dangerous chances, threatening Dāvis Ošs’s goal. In one instance, Dāvis was fortunate to control the ball right on the goal line. Metta struggled with finishing, but Gatis Kalniņš’s men had no reason to complain in this match.
Shortly before halftime, Vapne struck again, sending the ball into the net with another well-placed shot, scoring his second goal of the match. In any other game, Lūkass would have celebrated his goals with full emotion, but not this time and not against Metta—the club that still owns his contract.
The second half of the match was much like the first, with Metta continuing to search for the right approach to Ošs’s goal and the right players to execute it, but all in vain. Valmiera, with the score unchanged, gave some of their key players a rest and brought on fresh legs. In the 82nd minute, they put the game to bed with a fourth goal—Meissa Diop scored after a short pass from Gustavo in the visitors’ penalty area, ending any remaining intrigue in the match.
The day after the game, four of our players joined the Latvian national team camp—Vapne, Emīls Birka, Maksims Toņiševs, and Renārs Varslavāns. Kristers Penkevics and Oļģerds Raščevskis will join the U-21 national team, while Rojs Bušs and Markuss Eduards Blaubergs will participate in the U-17 youth national team training camp.
After the international break, we face an exciting match against the current leaders of Latvian football—FC RFS—on September 13th at 17:30 at Jānis Daliņš Stadium.
