- Iļja Vestermans
Iļja Vestermans (1915 – 2005) was a
Latvia n football forward ofJew ish origin.He was born in
Riga . Most of his career he played with the Riga Jewish community sports club Hakoah. In theLatvia national football team he made his debut in 1935 against Lithuania and in the debut match he scored two goals.In the
1938 FIFA World Cup qualification Vestermans scored in both matches as Latvia beat Lithuania and the single goal for Latvia against Austria. [ [http://www.chas-daily.com/win/1998/03/11/s_65.html World cup history (in Russian)] ]In his 23 matches for Latvia Vestermans scored 13 goals [ [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/let-recintlp.html RSSSF] ] . It was the third result in goals for Latvia players before
World War 2 , however Vestermans achieved it in significantly less matches thanĒriks Pētersons andAlberts Šeibelis who had a better goal-tally. Vestermans was considered one of the most talented footballers in Latvia. Vestermans left Latvia before Latvia was annexed by theSoviet Union and until his death at the age of 90 he lived inFlorida ,USA .References
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