Star players, predictions and more - Latvian football expert breaks down Cliftonville's UEFA Conference League opponents FK Auda
After winning last season’s Irish Cup, Cliftonville will get their UEFA Conference League campaign underway with a second qualifying round clash against FK Auda on Wednesday evening, but how much do you know about their Latvian opponents?
From star players to predictions and much more, we’ve enlisted the help of Latvian football expert Dmitrijs Kravcenko, who runs the Latvian Football Podcast alongside co-hosts Frank and Gustavs, to answer some important questions ahead of the tie.
Q: It looks like it has been a mixed season for Auda up to this point, but will they enter with confidence after their first European victory?
Dmitrijs: “Indeed! After finishing last season third (their best result ever), Auda started this season with a new and promising coach - Filipe Almeida from Portugal.
"His primary credentials were assistant coach jobs at Corinthians and Fenerbahce, but it seems that he thoroughly underestimated the level of Virslīga and Auda ended up struggling to string any points together at the lower end of the table.
"Almeida, of course, is not the first to make this mistake - even illustrious managers such as Thorsten Fink, who is now in charge of KRC Genk, had previously done the same and were out within six months of taking charge.
"Their new manager - former Olimpija Ljubljana head coach Zoran Zeljkovic - seems to be taking a much more pragmatic approach but the results are yet to come.
"Auda's home win over B36 Torshavn, for example, was their first win under his leadership. But even in that game, I think it was more a case of B36 being worse than Auda, not Auda being better than B36.
"Despite this, the team is clearly playing better and faster under Zeljkovic's rule and so the results should follow. This does give the team confidence, as will the fact that they are literally writing club history right now - the win over B36 was their first-ever European win and qualification for the next round.
"In their latest domestic game, Auda, bolstered by new arrivals, defeated a struggling FK Liepaja for the first time in their history. Zoran Zeljkovic is also confident of overcoming Cliftonville despite, by his own admission in a latest press conference, not really having all that much data on the Irish Cup holders.”
Q: Who are Auda's key players that Cliftonville fans should be wary of?
Dmitrijs: “Abdoul Traore and Abdulrahman Taiwo are two very dangerous and very different strikers, and both have been recently scoring goals.
"Traore is a quick 20-year-old attacking winger who has already scored nine goals this season and Taiwo is a 26-year-old powerful centre-forward on loan from Riga FC and with a long list of European clubs on his CV.
"He scored only four in Virslīga thus far but twice in the last two games, so he is picking up form and will, no doubt, also look to punch a hole through Cliftonville's defences to continue this streak.
"Auda's captain and former Latvian international, Vjačeslavs Isajevs, if recovered from injury, will solidify central defence and bring danger from set pieces.”
Q: It has been a special couple of weeks for Latvian football. Is there a feeling that RFS and Auda can continue that by progressing further?
Dmitrijs: "Most certainly, yes! Even though we already lost one club (FK Liepaja, who are really struggling at the moment and are bottom of the table) RFS left no questions unanswered after their 7-0 aggregate win over Larne and Auda did what was expected of them against a struggling B36 side.
"Our fourth club - Riga FC - are starting their campaign from qualification round two, just like Cliftonville. RFS now face a monumental test in the form of Norwegian champions FK Bodø/Glimt, whose estimated market value is greater than that of the entire Virslīga combined and who tend to play a style of 4-3-3 that RFS do have a history of struggling against.
"Still, the Europa League draw for the losers of this match is favourable, so we are all very hopeful that RFS will once again secure league stage European football this year.
"In terms of Auda, we see their draws as favourable and expect them to do what we feel they should do - to get at least as far as the third qualifying round of the Conference League.”
Q: This is the second season Auda have been in Europe. Are they an emerging force in Latvian football?
Dmitrijs: "Yes and no. Over the past decade or so, Latvian top-flight has normally had top five teams and bottom five teams with nothing in the middle.
"Following their return to the Virslīga and entry into some form of multi-club ownership arrangements with Riga FC two years ago, Auda seem to be etching out this "middle class" in Latvian top-tier football.
"They tend to reliably win over the teams below them and can cause plenty of headache and some lost points to the teams above them, but not really to challenge for the title in a credible way.
"They did win the Latvian Cup two years ago under the current CSKA Sofia manager Tomislav Stipić and got into Europe that way, despite finishing fifth.”
Q: How do you see this tie going? You got a taste of Irish League football after watching Larne against RFS, do you've an opinion on who you think will progress?
Dmitrijs: “After what RFS had done to Larne, the sentiment that Auda will progress is almost universal.
"Of course, Auda are not RFS by a long shot, but seeing the fitness challenges that Larne experienced due to NIFL still being in pre-season, and taking into account the very quick, transitional football that Auda are trying to play now, plus individual quality of their players, this might come down to fitness if nothing else, where Auda will have significant advantage.
"But Cliftonville are obscure to us and so they may pull off a surprise, although I, personally, will be staying in Auda's corner for this one.”