National Team Friendly

National stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) The sun was shining, the grass was green and the audience cheered when Roberts Eldmanis got the match started through his kick off. 2 minutes into the match, Finland's goal looked a bit too open when Roberts Eldmanis came free, but Heikki Kokkonen reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. An unexpectedly hard shot by Jari Litmanen in the 4th minute of play forced Latvia's goalkeeper Lauris Fokevulfs to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Heikki Kokkonen showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Roberts Eldmanis in the 7th minute of the match. Finland's Heikki Kokkonen played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Roberts Eldmanis in the 9th minute of play. Lauris Fokevulfs made a fantastic save in the 12th minute, when Marko Hyökyvaara sent off a good shot on target. 13 minutes into the match, Finland's Jari Litmanen sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Lauris Fokevulfs narrowly saved just below the crossbar. Lauris Fokevulfs didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Jari Litmanen went, in the 16th minute, to the upper right corner, 1-0 was the resulting score. Lauris Fokevulfs showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Jari Litmanen in the 18th minute of the match. Marko Hyökyvaara who was well placed in front of the goal fired away a dangerous shot that in the 21stth minute tested the skills of Lauris Fokevulfs when he managed to save the team from getting behind. A sloppy throw-in by Silvestrs Brunenieks in the 23rd minute of the game went astray and was snapped up by Finland's Juho Rissanen. If Jari Litmanen had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 24th minute. The ball went over the crossbar instead. After 26 played minutes Finland got a freekick which was hit by Perttu Wallenius. Marko Hyökyvaara received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 31st minute. Lauris Fokevulfs tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Heikki Kokkonen showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Linards Kaprāns in the 32nd minute of the match. Finland's Heikki Kokkonen played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Roberts Eldmanis in the 34th minute of play. Silvestrs Brunenieks's late challenge caught a Finland's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Silvestrs Brunenieks helped the player get up and apologised. Silvestrs Brunenieks hit a great freekick 37 minutes into the match. Finland's Iisakki Möksy shoveled away a really nice long shot in the 38th minute of play. The shot was stopped by Lauris Fokevulfs but with some difficulty. 39 minutes into the match, Finland's Jari Litmanen sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Lauris Fokevulfs narrowly saved just below the crossbar. Finland's Jari Litmanen got a good chance for a goal in the 41st minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Lauris Fokevulfs took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Jari Litmanen, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side.

Finland's Toni Masalin was substituted for Santtu Somervuori. The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Osmo Ripatti was the one to do the kick off. Lauris Fokevulfs came out of the goal in the 55th minute to try and stop a shot by Finland's Jari Litmanen. But to his dismay, Jari Litmanen quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 2-0. Lauris Fokevulfs took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Osmo Ripatti, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 65th minute the ball was on its way in behind Finland's goalkeeper Heikki Kokkonen, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. Osmo Ripatti scored 4-0 in the 67th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Lauris Fokevulfs, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. After 71 minutes of play Latvia's Silvestrs Brunenieks was too eager in his attempt to stop his opponent and brought him down. With that he got his second yellow card and was ordered off the ground. Lauris Fokevulfs showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Osmo Ripatti, who was totally free with the ball in the 73rd minute. Linards Kaprāns could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 75th minute of the match, but Heikki Kokkonen made a huge save. Latvia made a substitution. Oļegs Mokāns replaced Roberts Eldmanis. Finland's Juho Rissanen quite brazenly broke a throw-in by Oļegs Mokāns, made in the 77th minute of the game. In the 80th minute of the match Finland got a corner. Latvia's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Iisakki Möksy ran over to the corner to take the kick. Osmo Ripatti might have been able to make a better finish in the 84th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Lauris Fokevulfs. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Osmo Ripatti ran back to his position shaking his head. Lauris Fokevulfs made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Osmo Ripatti in the 84th minute of play. Finland's Jari Litmanen got a good chance for a goal in the 86th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Jari Litmanen took the ball and in the 88 minute, shot a rapid shot to the right of a surprised Lauris Fokevulfs. Lauris Fokevulfs dived to the right, and did manage to get a hand on the shot, but it still went into the right corner making it 5-0. Lauris Fokevulfs showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Jari Litmanen, who was totally free with the ball in the 94th minute. In the 94th minute Jari Litmanen shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Lauris Fokevulfs saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Jari Litmanen succeeded in the game's 97th minute to shoot an unreachable shot under the crossbar and scored - 6-0. For all the effort they put into the match, the Latvia players left disappointed. They had fought hard, but couldn't break down the home team's defense. The match ended in a win for Finland.