Ronaldo in action in Riga tonight

The World Cup qualifier should be a fairly straightforward task for the current European Champions against a Latvian side who have no hope of qualification.

Nevertheless, the presence of the Portuguese maestro has ensured a sell-out, but as LSM's Kristiāns Girvičs writes, though Ronaldo is inevitably the center of attention, football fans will have the chance to admire the skills of several top-class Portuguese players while urging a young and inexperienced Latvian team on.

But as ever with Latvian soccer there is as much happening off the field as on it. Despite the presence of 14 domestic players in the squad selected by coach Aleksandrs Starkovs, not a single player from the Liepaja club makes it onto the list - after Liepaja's own coach criticised national selection policies.

"It is clear that Portugal is the undoubted favorite to win the game, and they cannot afford to lose points in a tournament table that sees them three points behind Switzerland, but football is the beautiful game and sometimes miracles can happen," writes Girvičs.

Police are reminding the public that traffic restrictions will be in place near the stadium.

The match kicks off at 21:45 Riga time and will be shown live on LTV7 from 20:30 and also on the LSM Latvian website (restrictions may apply according to where you are watching from).