Latvia welcomes home Euro heroes
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Latvian coach Starkovs and his players celebrate.
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EURO 2004 PLAYOFFS
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Netherlands win 6-1 on aggregate
Spain win 5-1 on aggregate
Croatia win 2-1 on aggregate
Latvia win 3-2 on aggregate
Russia win 1-0 on aggregate
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| EURO 2004 QUALIFIERS |
Portugal (hosts), France, Denmark, Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Greece, England, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Netherlands, Russia.
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RIGA, Latvia -- Latvia's coach and players were given a hero's welcome home after clinching a place at next summer's Euro 2004 finals with a shock win over World Cup semifinalists Turkey.
Large crowds of fans were at Riga's airport to greet the team, who battled back from two goals down for a 2-2 draw and a 3-2 aggregate win in Istanbul on Wednesday.
"It was a historic win," coach Aleksandrs Starkovs told reporters. "I can't believe it and I don't know how to act."
Starkovs' team, 56th in the world rankings, are the first from Latvia to qualify for a major tournament since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and Wednesday's success came just one day after the Baltic republic had marked its independence day.
"This is not only a historic moment for Latvia and European football history but also a great gift on its birthday of independence," said prime minister Einars Repse.
Latvia took a one-goal lead to Istanbul from Saturday's first leg in Riga, but their hopes of pulling off an upset seemed to be fading when Turkey took a 2-0 lead midway through the second half.
But Jurijs Laizans leveled the tie on aggregate two minutes later and Maris Verpakovskis clinched the decisive goal on 77 minutes.
Their playoff victory over Turkey followed previous qualifying wins over Sweden, Poland and Hungary.
Latvian Football Federation President Guntis Indriksons told state television: "This is the greatest achievement in Latvian football history, and the result of years of hard work."
"We still don't understand what's happened," said defender Mihails Zemlinskis. "This needs to sink in."
