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“We can already expect the national team’s head coach to be confirmed with the Nations League draw on February 8,” said Vadim Lashenko. “There will be a meeting of the LFF board on February 5th at which – I very much hope – the new head coach of the national team will be officially appointed. Do I know who that will be? No, we still have four candidates with whom. We are continuing the negotiations.”
All four candidates are foreigners and the LFF president currently has no particular favorite among them, although Lashenko agreed that there is not much time left until February 5.
The LFF president did not want to name the candidates for the position of coach because this was not correct. However, news has already appeared in the media, including statements by national team manager Jānis Ikaunieks on the program “Bufete” that Lithuanian Valds Dambrausks, former RFS coach, is considered the main candidate for the position of national team coach.
“Yes, nothing will be hidden there anymore, Valds is among the candidates for the position of coach of the national team,” said Lashenko. “I know Valda well and have great respect for him. He is a serious candidate for the position, but it should be noted that he would still prefer to continue his career with clubs rather than national teams.”
Lashenko called it a general trend – among the candidates approached, the younger coaches mostly showed a desire to work with clubs and not with the national team: “This is a different specificity. You have to work with the club every day, while with.” In the national team, a lot of the work is done remotely and in separate meetings. Likewise, in the national team you cannot buy and sell players or recruit free agents – the coach must form a team from the players who have a Latvian passport.”
The LFF president said that in total more than 10 candidates were approached for the position of coach, some also came to Latvia to familiarize themselves with the conditions, infrastructure and atmosphere of the upcoming work. “There were also some who came straight away with their agents, which I wasn’t happy about. However, the agents are trying to immediately agree on more favorable contracts and working conditions, while before these discussions we first wanted to get to know the trainer and understand what our cooperation could look like. For myself, it was also the first experience of this kind to look for a coach for the national team, and the search for a coach itself was educational – I got to know opinions about Latvian football, heard reflections on our football opportunities. I’m not a coach and probably never will be, so it was valuable to learn different perspectives.”
The LFF president revealed that he would like to sign a contract with the new coach for a two-year term: “In an ideal world, I would like to have a term like that. Then the new coach would have the opportunity to get to know him.” He will be included in the national team and start work this year, try out the Nations League in the second half of the year and then compete in the cup qualifiers at the 2025 World Cup.
The question of selecting assistants also plays an important role in discussions with candidates for the position of head coach, and Laschenko made no secret of the fact that he would like the new coach to also include local coaches in his team: “We want, that our coaches do that.” Gain experience working with the national team and that this experience stays with us. After all, a foreign coach can leave after two years of work, leaving an empty place, while the accumulated experience of a local coach will be useful even for Latvian football after that. Which Latvian coach would like to become an assistant to the national team? We have several candidates we are discussing and do not want to highlight any particular last name at this time.”
The Latvia national football team was led by two foreigners ahead of Daiņas Kazakevičas. The Finn Miksu Patelainen was signed for six months, but after him Slavisa Stojanovics led the national team in 2019. Dainis Kazakevičs was fired from his position in early December with one year left on his contract.
The next game of the Latvian national team is scheduled for March, then a friendly match against Cyprus is expected.
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