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On Thursday, the 53rd football specialist presented his troops with whom he will compete in the next qualifying rounds for the 2022 World Cup match.
Urbonas students will begin their journey with a ticket to the largest football festival, which is held every four years, on March 28 in a field match with Swiss footballers.
On March 31st, the Lithuanian soccer team will face an even more serious test: the Lithuanians will win a spear at the LFF stadium with the eleven of the Italian team.
“A strong group and strong competitors are waiting. We are not favorites, but we will try to fight for points in every fight and not share them easily.
The goal is to take at least fourth place in a group of five teams, ”reasoned the head coach of the Lithuanian soccer team.
It is true that first the Lithuanians will have to try their luck in friendly matches. On March 24 in Pristina, Urbon’s troops will clash with the local Kosovo team.
According to the strategist of the Lithuanian national team, it was considered that a soccer player with the USA would try his luck in the preparation cycle, but the Lithuanian pain: the stadium, which had been polishing for many years, changed its leg.
“The possibility of playing for the United States in Vilnius was seriously considered, but when they saw our conditions and our only irreplaceable stadium, they refused to think,” said the coach of the national team with a sigh.
Lrytas.lt Remember that in addition to the Italian and Swiss footballers, the Lithuanian team will compete against the eleven of Bulgaria and Northern Ireland in the selection for the 2022 World Cup in Group C.
V. Urbonas said that the new composition of the national team did not change much – after the last successful season in the UEFA Nations League tournament, the main desire was to keep the core of the national team.
“After a successful performance last year, I don’t think I want to make big changes. Those people who fought last year and achieved victories, they deserve it, they showed with their game, their activities, that they can represent the national team.
Changes and modifications are minimal. Of course, we monitor the market, both in Lithuania and abroad. I would like a little more competition.
Currently, no player has closed the door to the national team.
Healthy competition has never arisen, I think it will gradually appear in the selection of team players.
After the break, Nerijus Valskis returns to the national team, which did well in India. Goalkeeper Marius Adomonis is back too, I hope he’s in a good mood.
There were certain nuances in inviting one player or another. For health reasons and in relations with clubs, we must be aware and not get involved in conflict situations.
The coach also added that young footballers will gain a little less confidence in the national team: V. Urbonas hopes that they will reveal themselves in the championships of their age.
“Certain players were tested episodically in the last cycle, but I came to the opinion that the U19 and U21 teams with the ambitious coaches who have now come to victory in their spaces.
You need to form a character in your peer group, the mentality of the winners and toughen up in the context of international matches.
I think the youth selection competitions are also very important, so I want the young people to pay a lot of attention to that. Then players will emerge who have the skills and can gradually make it to the national team.
– Does not contain goalkeepers Ernestas Šetkus and Džiugas Bartkus. Why? – V. Urbon was asked.
– We have enough goalkeepers, there are about 8 to 9 of them on the extended list, so the competition for this place is quite high.
Some may not fit the goalkeeper model that suits me, others may have a difficult relationship with the clubs when a player arrives at the national team and no longer gets a job when he returns to the national team.
We negotiate, we talk, we don’t get angry with anyone. We communicate with each player and reach agreements.
I would like stability. Last season in the Nations League, Tomas Švedkauskas showed that he can be the person to be trusted the most, but I’m not going to take down any other goalkeepers, they can all be found in the national team.
– Deimantas Petravičius is on the national team list although he plays in the fourth Spanish league. Are you looking at this footballer?
– Although he plays in the fourth league, he is no different at the level of league A.
He plays a lot there and sometimes being in one league or another doesn’t show a person’s personal skills.
You have to understand that time is complicated, which makes it difficult to find a good offer and sign a contract with a higher capacity league.
Having play time and play practice does not create any artificiality. The national team is a living organism and if a player does not meet the requirements of the national team, then you will not attract him in any artificial way, because everything will balance the game and I myself will lose the confidence of the players.
– Waiting for the match with the selections of Italy and Switzerland. What are these competitors?
– These teams participate in the main final stages of international championships. These are strong teams and the favorites of this selection.
Saying that we will fight alone does not guarantee us anything. We need to prepare both psychologically and tactically. We don’t think we’re going to play number one. We need to order and organize the defense well.
The base of the Swiss team plays for the strongest clubs and intensive leagues. We will have to be prepared for constant pressure, high intensity of the game, we will try to do it.
The Italian selection is more classic. We are very aware of the tactical capabilities of Italy, they dictate the fashion in football. The Italians did not participate in the last championship in Russia, so now they are full of desire to secure the opportunity to play in Qatar.
It is a young, ambitious, renewed team with a good internal atmosphere. You can see that the players want and want to achieve the best possible results and play beautiful and active football.
There is a serious game ahead, but it is interesting because we are looking for this type of encounter.
– You recently announced that G. Šugžda will join the coaching team. Maybe you can say something more about it? Why did you decide to make a change and wouldn’t want more stability at the coaches’ headquarters?
– You want stability, you want stability and mutual understanding. There has to be a well-coordinated mechanism, but sometimes things happen differently in life.
It is one thing to look at the Lithuanian market and another to look abroad, where people have more modern knowledge.
I was very satisfied with last year’s coaching staff with A.Skerla and M.Stankevičius “cementing”. In that team, everyone knew their roles and was satisfied.
There was no competition or tension. However, A.Skerla has received an offer from the A League club and you are well aware that there may be no more such offers in life.
He expressed a wish and I am glad that Andrius accepted this challenge.
M. Stankevičius does not need to be presented as a former professional player, he has accumulated a lot of experience.
As a coach, you may not have a lot of practice, but as a person who is able to access and find common ground with each player and connect them.
Appointing him as the coach of the U21 team is a very important decision.
I have no doubt that this generation is very promising. When the curious coach arrives, let’s hope a good incorporation to the players of the selection.
To this day, we are very limited in human resources, especially in the role of coach. There is no great choice. People who can and have tried something already have jobs.
Negotiations were carried out with many candidates, we tried to find the best solutions, so to this day one of the attendees is R.Jžiaukštas, who comes to the place of A.Skerla.
There were also several candidates for the next assistant position. I chose someone I know well who has spent a long time in Germany, who is well versed in football, the competitive base of this country.
He is not a man outside the store: he spent his 20 years in the competitive world of German soccer.
I have no doubt that I made the right decision and I hope that G.Šugžda contributes to the development of the team and is a strong member of it.
– You mentioned that there are goalkeepers that are not very suitable for your game model. Why and what are these goalkeepers?
– We have a blank sheet and we have surnames. Those players that I fully trust have already shown in their game that they can do it.
I want stability, not something to change every time and see what comes out of it.
If we want a normal orderly game and outcome, stability and player personalities are needed.
– After all, why are there no E.Šetkus and M.Zubas?
– M. Zubo was not on the lists of candidates – he has a space, a championship that is underway, we do not consider his candidacy too much.
E.Šetkus has had changes in his family before, at the moment he has a busy schedule, let’s also look at his age and his relationship with the club. E.Šetkus is the main goalkeeper and the team does not want to let him go.
We communicate with him, we talk, we solve all the problems that arise. Of course, I would like to see him at the national team camp, but we have to wait for better times and no one is commenting on E.Šetkus.
– Why did you decide to play for the Kosovo team in the control game? You have no plans to play friendly matches with other teams?
– I understand that there are some doubts about why we play with one team and not with another. The possibility of playing for the USA team in Vilnius was seriously considered, but when they saw our conditions and our only irreplaceable stadium, they abandoned the idea.
The choice of rivals in this situation is minimal. There are very few teams left to this day that we can play with. Both last year and this year, there is practically no other option, so we have to play with Kosovo and Belarus.
A friendly match with the Spanish team was scheduled for June last year, but was postponed a year earlier due to the pandemic.
I still do not know if we will play with the Spanish on June 8.
We all want strong and capable teams to come, but that is the situation and it does not always depend on the position of the federation.
– You mentioned that the youth teams had good and promising coaches. You expect a lot from these teams in your championship season. Does this mean that you will no longer invite young people to the Lithuanian team?
– As the coach of the national team, I am responsible for the national team and its staff. I am satisfied with the relationship with the youth teams and the fulfillment of my wishes.
We need to look more broadly, we want wins, good play, positive.
Above all, I want young players to demonstrate in their spaces the ability to compete and play well in the battles of their age.
In the past, we have given many young players the opportunity to play for the national team and they have been unbalanced. When you go up the elevator, it is very difficult to go down the stairs, so you want the players to buy time on the field.
Composition of the Lithuanian soccer team:
Goalkeepers: Tomas Švedkauskas, Ignas Driomovas, Marius Adamonis;
Defenders: Mindaugas Palionis, Vytas Gašpuitis, Egidijus Vaitkūnas, Edvinas Girdvainis, Saulius Mikoliūnas, Markas Beneta, Rolandas Baravykas;
For safety: Domantas Šimkus, Martynas Dapkus, Justas Lasickas, Tautvydas Eliošius, Danielis Romanovskis, Donatas Kazlauskas, Modestas Vorobjovas, Vykintas Slivka, Gratas Sirgėdas, Paulius Golubickas, Arvydas Novikovas, Deimantas Petravičius;
Forwards: Karolis Laukžemis, Fiodoras Černychas, Nerijus Valskis.
