Kuzmins Scores Third Straight Hat-Trick as Premier League Newcomers Win Big

Round four of the Latvian futsal (indoor football) Virslīga has been played, and Beitar Riga stayed perfect. The club, which will compete in the Champions League, won 9–2 at home against TFK Salaspils. Captain Dmitrijs Kuzmins scored his third hat-trick (three goals in one match) in a row and, with 10 goals, is the league's top scorer.

Results

Beitar Riga has won all four of its games: 5–0 against Futbola parks, 7–2 against Talsi, and then 9–2 twice, away to Nikers of Kuldīga and at home to TFK Salaspils. The team has 12 points and a goal difference of 30–6.

The other Salaspils side, Salaspils FA, lost 7–0 at home to newcomers Squad/Samgus Aizkraukle, who led 3–0 as early as the sixth minute. Marks Smuļko scored twice, and veteran Maksims Seņs netted his fifth goal of the season.

Talsi, also a newcomer, beat cup holders Nikers of Kuldīga 6–1. Talsi survived a spell playing short-handed early on. Nikers were without suspended Rihards Ponomarjovs and Raul Borisovs, as well as Tonijs Moldovāns, who had received his first national team call-up. It was Talsi's first Virslīga win after three defeats.

The tightest match was in Nīca, where Nīca/OtankiMill and Futbola parks academy drew 3–3. The visitors came back from 0–2 and 2–3 in the second half, and Nīca's Daniels Sērmoliņš, who had scored twice himself, put the ball into his own net 15 seconds before the end.

National team

Six Virslīga players have been called up to the Latvian national futsal team: Beitar Riga's Maksims Troickis, Ņikita Jelagovs, Vlads Rimkus, Aleksandrs Kuļešovs and debutant Niks Bērziņš, plus 18-year-old Moldovāns. On Friday Latvia hosts Ukraine in a friendly at the Olympic Centre in Riga, and on Tuesday it begins the main round of World Cup qualifying in the Czech Republic.