Markuss Strods Earns First Latvia Call-Up as Ireland Question Emerges

Markuss Strods has earned his first senior Latvia call-up, and Bohemians manager Alan Reynolds reckons they may be fairly keen to make sure Ireland don’t get the chance to complicate things.

The 19-year-old has been named in Latvia’s squad for their upcoming Nations League games after making the jump from promising Bohs youngster to genuine first-team option this season. Strods has already played for Latvia from Under-17 through to Under-21 level and was due to join the senior squad for June’s Baltic Cup before injury ruled him out, so the call-up itself has been coming. Latvia manager Paolo Nicolato even travelled to Ireland last month to watch him in person.

Reynolds thinks there may be another reason Latvia are keen to get him involved now.

“I suppose they’re keen to get him tied down aren’t they? There’s the fear of losing him to ourselves but I think Markuss is fully committed to them.”

“I think everyone’s afraid to lose out. The Latvia manager was over for the Sligo game and we were having a conversation about him.”

There hasn’t been any reported FAI approach for Strods, which is worth making clear before this turns into another eligibility saga by teatime. Reynolds is talking about what Latvia may be thinking, rather than confirming Ireland have actually tried to convince him to switch.

The reason the possibility exists is pretty straightforward. Strods was born and raised in Rush to Latvian parents, grew up speaking Latvian at home and also holds an Irish passport. His international football so far has all been with Latvia, though, and he has been moving through their system for years rather than suddenly appearing on their radar after a few good months at Dalymount.

He has been fairly open about that relationship too. Speaking to Latvian outlet Sportacentrs earlier this year, Strods explained that his first passport was Latvian and that both of his parents are from Latvia. He only received his Irish passport last summer, with one practical football benefit in mind as well: it could make a future move to England easier after Brexit.

So while the Ireland angle gives the story an extra wrinkle, Strods hasn’t spent the last few years sitting on the fence. Latvia have already invested plenty of international minutes in him. What has really changed this year is how quickly his club career has moved.

Strods started with Rush Athletic before spells at Malahide United and Shelbourne, then spent two years in Dundalk’s academy. He had the option to stay there but chose Bohemians instead, and the move has started to look like a very useful one for both player and club.

He made his Premier Division debut in October 2024 and barely featured in the league the following season, making only a handful of substitute appearances. This year has been completely different. Strods has made 18 Premier Division appearances, scoring twice and adding four assists, giving him six direct goal contributions from 767 league minutes.

His first league start came against former club Dundalk in March, when he set up Patrick Hickey. He had already created another Hickey goal against Galway United a week earlier, and by the end of April he had gone from useful young option to considerably harder to ignore.

Against St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park, Strods scored after eight seconds.

Not eight minutes. Eight seconds.

It was his first Premier Division goal and his first full league appearance, which is about as subtle as making a breakthrough can get. Bohs eventually lost the game 3-1, but Strods followed it by scoring against Derry City the following week.

He kept producing after that as well, setting up both Bohemians goals in a 2-1 win over Drogheda United in May. By then his place in Reynolds’ squad was no longer based on potential alone. He was actually affecting games.

That run was interrupted by a quad injury at a fairly rotten time, just as he had started putting together consistent senior football. Strods has had to rebuild his minutes since, but he also picked up European experience during Bohs’ Conference League campaign, appearing against St Joseph’s, Ballkani and Midtjylland.

Reynolds has seen enough from the first half of the season to believe the jump to senior international football won’t be beyond him.

“If you look at the Markuss we had in the first quarter of the season I’d say ‘yes’. Obviously he had a dip, he got injured, so he has to find his way. But at his best, he would have no problem in my opinion from what I’ve seen.”

There’s a good League of Ireland story in how he has got here too.

Bohs can’t claim every part of Strods’ development. Rush, Malahide, Shelbourne and Dundalk all had a hand in it before he arrived at Dalymount. What Bohs have done is give him the thing that can still be difficult for young players to find after years of academy football: proper senior minutes.

A year ago he had barely played in the Premier Division. Now he has scored against St Pat’s and Derry, created six league goals, played in Europe and had a senior international manager come to Dublin specifically to watch him.

That probably explains Latvia’s thinking better than any grand eligibility theory.

They already know Strods. He already knows them. The difference now is that a teenager they have been bringing through their underage teams has started looking like a senior footballer.

And for once, Ireland are on the other side of one of these stories. Instead of the FAI keeping tabs on an Irish-qualified teenager coming through in England, it is a Dublin-born League of Ireland player whose international future another association is understandably keen to keep straightforward.

Given Strods’ first league goal arrived eight seconds after kick-off, Latvia probably know better than most that he doesn’t always need long to make something happen.