Marked for Marcis Oss
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2027
2‑7. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Match20 Sep 2027
Skonto up to position 2
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Skonto and Petrolul, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match19 Sep 2027
Nobody wins at Skonto
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Kamess is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Nikita Savalnieks was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Olegs Dubra gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jun 2027
$340.0K. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Skonto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcis Oss and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Giovanni Cantizano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match8 May 2027
0‑1 to Daugavpils, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Oss is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Savalnieks, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Skonto dressing room in a hurry
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Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Olegs Dubra's mistake
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Player ratings
Vitalijs Laizans ran the game
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arturs Stolcers and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Skonto
Roberts Rugins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marcis Oss falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Oss is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market3 Aug 2026
Pavels Rugins is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Skonto has been clear about where Pavels Rugins stands, which is more than many ever get.