European minnows Andorra will travel to the Daugavas Stadiona on Friday evening to take on Latvia as the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League gets underway.

The two teams will be competing in League D - the competition's lowest rung - once again but seeking an unlikely promotion against the odds.

Match preview

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Latvia also kicked off their 2020-21 Nations League campaign against Andorra, playing out a goalless draw back in September 2020.

That was the first of three consecutive stalemates for Dainis Kazakevics's men in the competition, the streak eventually being broken as Malta grabbed a 97th-minute winner in the fourth game.

The 11 vilki grabbed their single win of the campaign in the return game against Andorra with an emphatic 5-0 thrashing, but it was nowhere near enough to move them up to League C as they finished five points shy of the Faroe Islands.

Whilst losing just one game was certainly a positive, they will need to find a way to get over the line in games this campaign rather than settling for a share of the spoils.

If one thing is certain, it is that Latvia have a lot of work to do if they are to return to their former heights of nearly qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Whilst Kazakevics and co will have been disappointed with their single win last campaign, it was still one more than Andorra managed.

Europe's perennial underdogs struggled again, picking up two points and scoring just a single goal.

Els Tricolors' win over lowly San Marino last year - coming courtesy of a brace from centre-back Marc Vales - was only their fourth competitive win of all time since their debut on the international stage in 1996.

Manager Koldo Alvarez has been in the job for 12 of those 26 years so will be sure to remind his players of the shocks they have occasionally pulled off, such as their surprise win over Hungary during qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Andorra will certainly need a few results like that if they are to move up to League C next year, but they come into this game having won their two matches in 2022 - friendlies against Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Team News

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Kazakevics will have to do without experienced defender Vitalijs Maksimenko who misses out with injury but the manager has few issues to deal with beyond that.

Davis Ikaunieks and Vladislavs Gutkovskis look the most likely candidates to lead the line for the hosts, but have Roberts Uldrikis waiting to grab a spot up front should either of them underperform.

Thirty-nine-year-old Marc Pujol will captain Andorra - the midfielder has scored four goals in 100 appearances for his nation but two of those came during their most recent World Cup qualifying campaign.

Goalkeeper Josep Gomes looks set to earn his 80th cap between the sticks and will be looking to add to his respectable tally of 16 clean sheets.

Latvia possible starting lineup:
Steinbors; Savalnieks, Cernomordijs, Dubra, Jurkovskis; Emsis, Zjuzins, Kamess, Ciganiks; Ikaunieks, Gutkovskis

Andorra possible starting lineup:
Gomes; Alavedra, Garcia, Llovera, Cervos, Rubio; Rebes, Vales, Pujol, Alaez; Martinez

We say: Latvia 3-1 Andorra

Last campaign's draw specialists come up against a side who have not featured in a stalemate for nine matches. We expect that run to continue as Latvia should be able to comfortably see off their underdog visitors, but they could certainly grab a goal with the belief they will have picked up from their two recent friendly victories.

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