Harijs Lazdiņš
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Harijs Lazdiņš (1910 - 19??) was a Latvian football goalkeeper who played for Olimpija Liepāja and Latvia national football team in 1920s-1930s.
[edit] Biography
Lazdiņš made his debut for the top football club in Liepāja in 1928 as Olimpija Liepāja won its second Latvian league title. In the first year Lazdiņš was mainly the backup goalkeeper behind K.Minsterjānis but in 1929 he already was the number one goalkeeper for Olimpija.
Through the entire 1930s Lazdiņš played rarely was replaced in the goal of Olimpija and was considered one of the best goalkeepers in the country. He was tall and rarely made spectacular jumps but he always played without fear and as the first of Latvian goalkeepers started participating in playing outside the penalty area. Lazdiņš was the most popular footballer of Olimpija of his era.
Lazdiņš made 16 appearances for Latvia national football team, after matches against Poland, Germany and Sweden international football specialists praised him as a European class goalkeeper. The brightest season in his career came in 1936 when he managed to keep his goal shut in half of the games in the Latvian Virsliga and played 5 matches for Latvia as it won four times and played one draw. With Olimpija Lazdiņš played from 1927 to 1942[1].
After World War II he emigrated to the USA[2].
[edit] References
- ^ Brightest footballers from Liepāja of the XX century (in Latvian)
- ^ Miķelis Rubenis. History of football in Latvia, 2002
