Fuente: © UEFA (English)
http://www.uefa.com/

FOOTBALL EUROPE: Ndeki captivates Latvia

/noticias.info/ by Mihail Korolev
from Riga

Foreign players are rare in Latvian football, and few have been as successful or popular as FK Ventspils defender Jean-Paul Ndeki.

Baltic adventure
The Cameroonian's Baltic adventure appeared to be short-lived in 2005 when his first club, FK Venta, were declared bankrupt. But having been rescued by Ventspils, Ndeki has won both of Latvia's major footballing honours as well as being named 2006 Player of the Year in the Virsliga.

Settling in
"To tell the truth, I did not think it would be very interesting playing in Latvia, but I am glad to be here now," he told uefa.com. "My first days in Latvia were difficult - I couldn't speak the language, knew nothing of the local culture and was down in the dumps. But that is all in the past now."

First trophy
Ever since slotting into the heart of coach Roman Grigorchuk's reshaped three-man back line, the 24-year-old has shone for Ventspils. The second half of the 2005 campaign ended with a 2-1 win for his new club against FHK Liepajas Metalurgs in the Latvian Cup final. "I treasure this trophy because it was my first," said Ndeki. "It was a great feeling. It was a tough victory but we remained focused and kept believing."

Splendid campaign
After that final, Ndeki admitted he was "dreaming of a league title". That duly arrived in the 2006 season, with the centre-back scoring five goals in 23 Virsliga appearances, as well as registering twice in Europe as Ventspils battled their way to the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. "I am delighted - this is unbelievable," he said. "My team-mates are great players and I am happy to play with them. We are always united on the pitch. We stayed focused until the end of the season and that helped us bring our fans the prize they have dreamt of for so long."

'Why not?'
As for his goalscoring feats, the former Eintracht Frankfurt trainee explained: "I never dream of scoring goals. I am a defender and my main task is to prevent the opposition from scoring, but when we are taking a set-piece, why not push forward?" The defenders who come up against Ndeki in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League qualifiers can consider themselves warned. notas_de_prensa_archivo