Looking to record their first wins of the summer schedule, Latvia and Azerbaijan clash for a friendly fixture at Stadions Skonto in Riga on Saturday afternoon.

The 11 Wolves have made a positive start to their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign, whilst Azerbaijan are yet to commence their intended road to North America for football’s biggest tournament.

Match preview

A perennial whipping boy of major tournament qualification groups in Europe, Latvia have enjoyed a positive opening to their quest to feature in North America in 12 months’ time, collecting three points from their first pair of contests in Group K.

The 11 Wolves came out of the blocks flying at the beginning of the section in March, when a solitary strike from Dario Sits was enough to seal all three points on the road versus helpless Andorra, before the Baltic nation were brought back down to Earth by a tricky trip to the home of football on March 24.

Mustering up just the single shot on target at Wembley Stadium last time out, Latvia were unable to seriously test Euro 2024 runners-up England, who secured a three-goal success courtesy of efforts from Reece James, Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze in what was Thomas Tuchel’s second match in charge.

The long-term form of the 11 Wolves is less promising, though, with Saturday’s hosts in Riga winning just two of their last eight competitive matches - a run which encompasses a woeful UEFA Nations League campaign, in which they finished rock bottom of League C Group 4 behind North Macedonia, Armenia and the Faroe Islands.

Looking to bring knowhow from his team in the youth systems of the Italian national game to European minnows Latvia, Paolo Nicolato has been at the helm of the Baltic side since March 2024, with the 58-year-old winning just three of this opening 12 contests in charge as he navigates his maiden head coach role on the international stage.

Due to their placement into a four-team group containing Nations League-competing France, Azerbaijan are yet to commence their journey towards a potential spot at the World Cup next year, however there are already causes for concern around the camp of Saturday’s visitors following a sobering start to their 2025 calendar.

Milli turned out on just the single occasion during the March international window and were embarrassed on their own patch against Belarus, who managed a 2-0 success at Bank Respublika Arena in Masazir thanks to strikes either side of the half-time whistle from Pavel Zabelin and Nikita Demchenko.

Looking further back, Azerbaijan are in the midst of a seven-game winless run stretching across friendlies and a failed Nations League C campaign, in which they finished bottom of a section containing Sweden, Slovakia and Estonia, failing to earn a single success, with the only result arriving in the form of a 0-0 draw against Estonia in November.

Lifting the European Championship title in 2016 and the Nations League trophy in 2019 during his spell in charge of Portugal, Milli head coach Fernando Santos has all the experience and expertise in the world to make his current job a success, however the 70-year-old has failed to win any of his opening eight battles (D1 L7).

A reason for slight optimism in the visiting camp ahead of this weekend’s trip to Latvia, out-of-form Azerbaijan’s most recent victory arrived during an international friendly in June of last year, when goals from Mahir Emreli, Emin Makhmudov and Tural Bayramov were required to beat Kazakhstan in a five-goal thriller.

Latvia form (all competitions):

Azerbaijan International Friendlies form:

Azerbaijan form (all competitions):

Team News

Regardless of the level of opposition, Latvia have employed a back-three system under their current head coach, so expect captain Antonijs Cernomordijs to lead from the middle of a centre-back trio this weekend.

The 11 Wolves could make some alterations to their forward line following the goalless defeat in England last time out, with the likes of Sits and Eduards Daskevics pushing for starts.

Whilst looking to promote a number of promising youngsters, Latvia are still reliant on an experienced core, one which includes Janis Ikaunieks, who is set to make his 65th International appearance on Saturday.

Azerbaijan are expected to make a number of changes from their friendly defeat to Belarus earlier in the year, with manager Santos scrambling to find his preferred XI ahead of the start of World Cup qualifying in September.

The Milli squad is built around a host of players from the country’s dominant club side Qarabag FK, with the likes of Badavi Huseynov and Elvin Jafarquilyev key in the backline.

Latvia possible starting lineup: Zviedris; Jagodinskis, Jurkovskis, Cernomordijs, Balodis, Cignakis; Jaunzems, Saveljevs, Ikaunieks; Sits

Azerbaijan possible starting lineup: Cafarov; Seydiyev, Mustafazade, Huseynov, Krisvostyuk; Diniyev, Kokcu, Isayev; Emreli, Bayramov, Akhundzade

We say: Latvia 1-2 Azerbaijan

After barely laying a glove on Tuchel’s England in March, Latvia will be more confident of landing a blow on out-of-form Azerbaijan this weekend at Stadions Skonto.

Milli are in the midst of a woeful run of results, but should have enough firepower at the top end of the pitch to enjoy an away success on Saturday afternoon.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Carter White

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