Before the international break of the national teams, the second round of the Tonybet Virsliga took place, in which “Valmiera FC” visited the 2023 champion “RFS” team. Meissa Diop became the main hero of the match in a difficult but engaging battle, for whom this was the first goal in the competition after three seasons spent in Valmiera. His goal was also the winner, the game ended with the score 1:0.
The first half of the game was played similarly – both teams fighting for the ball and looking for their first shots on the artificial turf. The beginning was nervous, with quite a lot of small mistakes in the performance of both sides. The goalkeepers managed to neutralize dangerous moments, catching not particularly dangerous attacks in their gloves. As the half-time slipped into the second part, physical contact football showed itself more and more, which continued to level the scales.
In the 25th minute, the main turning point of the game came, in when a quick, reactive counter-attack came after a shot attempt at Olses’ goal. Niks Sliede delivered the ball to Djibril Gueye, who played a show around Roberts Savalnieks and Emerson on the run. What happened next became history – Meissa Diop received the ball near the center of the field, and went forward at rocket speed, overtaking five ”RFS” players and sending the ball into the goal guarded by Jevgenijs Nerugals. Beautiful, efficient, and convincing – 1:0 lead on the table after 45 minutes.
In the second half of the game, the hosts, who had a huge positional advantage, tried to recite their performance. The most important thing in these moments was not to make gross mistakes, which we managed this time. The defensive duo of Daniels Balodis and Niks Sliede worked excellently in defense, they were also helped by Niks Dusalijevs and Emils Birka, who entered the game at the beginning of the second half of the game.
A lot of work for Carlos Olses, who saved the team from a certain loss of goals on several occasions, the accuracy also let ”RFS” down in places, unable to find the frame of the goal. To cement the defensive line at the end of the game, Jurgis Kalns put Kristers Alekseiciks on, and it bore fruit. Although the opponent tried to find an approach to scoring, all opportunities were denied and in the end, a difficult but important victory was registered.
We will play our next game after the national team break, when on March 31 we will play at home for the first time this season – at Valmiera Olympic Center Stadium, when we will host the ”Riga FC” team.
