National Team Friendly

National stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) Vance Crossman made the kick off and thus started the match. Ronny Black took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Henrihs Bludēns, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Ronny Black stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Henrihs Bludēns's shot from short distance in the 6th minute. Fredis Plūmkoks received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 11th minute. Ronny Black tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Ronny Black showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Modris Bušs in the 13th minute of the match. In the 16th minute Modris Bušs shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Ronny Black saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. The audience was convinced that Modris Bušs's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Ronny Black was relentless in the 18th minute of the game. After some careless play in the Northern Ireland defense, Henrihs Bludēns kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Ronny Black. The Northern Ireland fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Ronny Black should have stopped the shot. Ronny Black showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Modris Bušs in the 23rd minute of the match. Ronny Black took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Modris Bušs, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 31st match minute, Latvia was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Valfrīds Sveriņš to maneuver through the defense. 41 minutes into the game, Latvia's Henrihs Bludēns nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Ronny Black made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-2. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 0-2 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Modris Bušs to make the kick off. Ronny Black showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Henrihs Bludēns in the 58th minute of the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by Vance Crossman in the 63rd minute of play forced Latvia's goalkeeper Igmārs Broms to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. The audience thought a goal was coming when Henrihs Bludēns got free with Ronny Black in the 65th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. After having played for 68 minutes, Peter Smith managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Northern Ireland's supporters crossed their fingers, but Peter Smith was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Latvia made a substitution. Arvils Kivliņš replaced Henrihs Bludēns. Latvia made a substitution. Lauris Skelvis replaced Gvido Orleāns. 73 minutes into the match, Latvia's goal looked a bit too open when Vance Crossman came free, but Igmārs Broms reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Ronny Black made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Valfrīds Sveriņš in the 74th minute of play. In the 76th minute, Gary Nethercot ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Igmārs Broms was frozen by the shot and now it was 1-2. With a little luck, Northern Ireland's Ronny Black got control of the ball when Modris Bušs tried to sneak it across the goal line. Ronny Black made a fantastic save in the 82nd minute, when Modris Bušs sent off a good shot on target. In the 83rd minute Latvia were awarded a corner. Žanis Kiriks went to the cornerflag to take it. Arvils Kivliņš was really disappointed when he shot the ball just outside the right post instead of scoring a goal in the 85th minute. Latvia's manager could be seen on the sidelines shaking his head and muttering to himself as his team had just wasted another chance. Ronny Black showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Valfrīds Sveriņš in the 87th minute of the match. Arvils Kivliņš received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 89th minute. Ronny Black tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Northern Ireland's Ronny Black played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Modris Bušs in the 90th minute of play. In the 91st minute, Fredis Plūmkoks got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. In the 96th minute, Arvils Kivliņš reached a very good position and smashed the ball with a huge effort into the net, just to the left of Ronny Black. The goal made the score 1-3. When the final whistle sounded Latvia left the ground with the victory after a much better performance than Northern Ireland.