Uldriķis on loss to Cyprus: conceding like that in the final minutes hurts twice as much

Latvia national football team forward Roberts Uldriķis told Latvian Television after the Nations League match against Cyprus that the manner in which the team lost made the final result particularly hard to accept. Latvia fell 1:2, with Cyprus scoring the decisive goal deep into stoppage time at the end of the match.

Uldriķis said the defeat felt doubly frustrating because the winning goal was scored by naturalized player Markus Edwards, who currently plays in England's Championship and has also gained experience in the Premier League. According to the forward, given the known quality of this player, the team should not have allowed him that kind of scoring chance.

How the match unfolded

Uldriķis acknowledged that after Eduards Daškevičs put Latvia ahead in the 57th minute, the team began sitting back more, which allowed Cyprus to take control of the game. He described this as a fairly normal football dynamic, where a leading team tries to protect its result, but this time it did not work out for Latvia.

The forward, who was substituted during the match in place of captain Vladislavs Gutkovskis, confirmed that the coaching staff had instructed him to focus more on holding up the ball in attack.

He also pointed to an episode after Latvia's goal when Andrejs Ciganiks broke away down the left flank and was brought down. Uldriķis believes the Cypriot player could have been shown a red card for the foul, suggesting the moment might have changed the course of the match had it been called differently.

Latvia's national team will play its next Nations League matches in November, facing Montenegro and Armenia.