07:24 PM BST
In tonight’s other group D match
Croatia beat Armenia one nil away. So the Croats and Turkey both have ten points. Wales just cannot fall any further behind the pace.
07:15 PM BST
There’s a fair few Welsh supporters
in Riga. Some are being interviewed on the telly at the moment: “If we don’t win it’s the end of the campaign,” says one lady. Most likely so…
07:14 PM BST
Latvian analysis
We imagine that the Latvians will play a back four, with one up front in the shape of Uldrikis. Most of the lads play their football domestically.
But Ciganiks, the left back, plays in Poland with Widzew Łódź and keep an eye out for the attacking midfielder Krollis, who plays for Spezia in Serie B and is just 21.
Skipper is Tobers in the midfield who is with Grasshopper in Switzerland.
The back four are all experienced. Savalnieks has 52 caps at right back and the centre halves Dubra and Černomordijs 60 and 31 respectively. The team doesn’t have a lot of goals in it but left-sided forward Ikaunieks has 12 international goals.
07:08 PM BST
Right then
Just under 40 minutes to kick off. It’s a clear evening there, but still warm – 68 degrees or so. They are a couple of hours ahead of Wales time so it’s just after 9. Late finish then for the locals.
06:53 PM BST
Wales line-up
Captain Aaron Ramsey returns in midfield after being rested for the draw with South Korea.
Birmingham City’s 19-year-old midfielder Jordan James keeps his place after impressing on his first start against the Koreans.
Striker Kieffer Moore and midfielder Joe Morrell are suspended, while wingers Daniel James and Wes Burns are injured and goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey has returned to his club, Nottingham Forest
04:06 PM BST
Wales have a must-win game
Or as near as dammit. With Turkey already on 10 points, and Croatia and Armenia both having seven*, Wales (only four points so far) simply cannot let the others get away. Latvia are making up the numbers in group D so far, having played four lost four, so Wales need to put the Baltic boys away for sure.
* that was at the start of today. The Croatians kicked off in Armenia at 5pm and lead 1-0 as this is published.
This campaign seemed to start really well for Rob Page and the gang when they earned a more than respectable point away at Croatia, and then beat Latvia in Cardiff. But losing 4-2 AT HOME to Armenia was a serious clanger. Wales then lost away in Turkey which is not a disgrace but one win from four games means that the Welsh have it all to do from here.
The cause was not helped against Turkey when midfielder Joe Morrell was sent off before half-time for an absolute shocker of a tackle that Mark Halsey called “a nailed-on red card which endangered the player’s safety”.
Wales’s last outing was on Thursday when they played out a goalless draw at home against South Korea which, I think it’s fair to say, will not live long in the memory. Indeed, manger Page had said before the match that he’d rather they didn’t play, but were compelled to fill a date by Uefa.
“I said I didn’t want to play it and I got criticised for saying it but that’s the truth. From a selfish point of view, I stick by that. We didn’t want any injuries. We’ve got a load of positives out of it and we take that momentum on to Monday’s game.”
It’s somewhat unclear what momentum or positives were taken from it but given that Wales have only won one match in their last 13, you could forgive Page for trying to put a spin on things. He needs a reaction and a performance from the players tonight or he might be looking for a new gig sooner rather than later.
We will have team news and updates from an hour before the kick-off, which is at 7.45pm.
