V.Urbonas, who brought Lithuanian football to the historical scene: on the victory over the lost lights of the stadium | sports

The 52nd national team strategist will remember 2020 as a crazy year. And not only because the routine has been very disturbed by the coronavirus that has shaken the football world on more than one occasion.

Within a few months of the man who showed the worst results in the history of independence with the Lithuanian national team, V. Urbonas became a strategist who began to apply to the most successful lines of the Lithuanian soccer yearbook.

Patience is a trait that probably best describes the Panevėžys resident who assumed command of the national team in February 2019. 8 losses and 1 draw – V. Urbonas made his debut as head of the national team in official matches. Panevėžys has entered the country’s soccer history as the most anticipated team strategist, but the sensational victory in Tirana against the Albanian team, won on September 7, became a spark, dividing the Lithuanian soccer shot into a section which had not been seen for a long time.

Wednesday’s duel with the Faroe Islands was the fifth consecutive game in which the Lithuanian team did not lose.

Such a phenomenon is especially rare in soccer in our country. So far, only twice in the history of independent Lithuania have the team stumbled five times in a row.

The last time this happened was at the intersection of 2008 and 2009.

Jose Couceiro Series

Data	City	Rival	Kind	The result
2008.10.15	Kaunas	Faroe Islands	PC 2010	1: 0
2008.11.19	Tallinn	Moldova	Baltic Cup	eleven
2008.11.22	Kuressaare	Estonia	Baltic Cup	eleven
2009.02.07	Lole	Poland	Friendly	eleven
2009.02.11	Albufeira	Andorra	Friendly	3: 1

Then the charismatic José Couceiro took the lead. After Wednesday, V. Urbonas also stood alongside one of the best strategists of the national team of all time.

It is true that it must be taken into account that there was only one official match in the J. Couceiro and V. Urbon series, even three.

It is also symbolic that the Portuguese began his series with the Faroe Islands, and V. Urbon was placed in the same row with him after a duel with the same dwarf.

Valdo Urbono Series

Data	City	Rival	Kind	The result
2020.09.07	Tirana	Albania	League of Nations	1: 0
2020.10.07	Tallinn	Estonia	Friendly	3: 1
2020.10.11	Vilnius	Belarus	League of Nations	2: 2
2020.10.14	Vilnius	Albania	League of Nations	0: 0
2020.11.11	Vilnius	Faroe Islands	Friendly	twenty-one

The 52-year-old from Panevėžys has a chance to further push his goal of luck, if his students in Minsk on Sunday are not inferior to the Belarusians or will remain in Kazakhstan next Wednesday.

In this case, V. Urbonas would repeat or improve Algimantas Liubinskas’ record.

The team did not lose for the first time in six consecutive doubles matches in 1992, and this series ended with a historic autumn draw in Vilnius with the then Danish European champions.

It is interesting that V. Urbonas himself has contributed to this successful section. Later, as a member of Vilnius “Iron Wolf”, he was invited to the national team and played in a match with Sakartvelas (1: 0).

Algimantas Liubinskas Series

Data	City	Rival	Kind	The result
1992.07.11	Liepaja	Estonia	Baltic Cup	eleven
1992.07.12	Liepaja	Latvia	Baltic Cup	3: 2
1992.07.20	Vilnius	Belarus	Friendly	eleven
1992.08.12	Riga	Latvia	PČ 1994	twenty-one
1992.09.02	Kaunas	Sakartvelas	Friendly	1: 0
1992.09.23	Vilnius	Denmark	PČ 1994	0: 0

As promised before the game, V. Urbonas did not look at the past and potential records. Not having the Vilnius support team “Žalgiris”, the strategist of Modestas Vorobjovas and Domantas Šimkus formed a courageous experimental duo in the center of his field of Vykintas Slivka, who returned to the national team after a long break, and Linas Mėgelaitis, who debuted in the national team.

Saulius Mikoliūnas from Žalgiris, who was looking great recently, was also unable to compete, and team leader Arvydas Novikovas was left on the bench, but this did not stop the Lithuanians from starting the duel with a brave and confident fighting midget.

The looks were not lacking in the match without spectators. After half an hour of play, about half of the lights in the LFF stadium went out. After five minutes, it got even more boring as several more walked out, but these problems didn’t bother the hosts.

The referee allowed Gratas Sirgėdas to take it quickly, to the dismay of the unprepared goalkeeper.

The leader of “Kauno Žalgiris”, who showed great sports form at the end of the season, immediately took the team jersey with the number 6 and the name of Marius Žaliūkas in his hands, thus paying tribute to the defender of the selection national who accompanied Anapilin last week.

Three minutes later, Sirgėdas was happy again. Following the transfer of Donatas Kazlauskas from the left, perhaps the shortest player on the team successfully raised his head and Faroese goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen had no chance.

“It was probably the most successful match of my career in terms of goals, and I wouldn’t say it in terms of play. Striking both times, I showed up at the right place and time. It’s fun that we played better in the first half, we dominated the game. field and the rivals had almost no chances. After that they changed me, so I did not see the end of the game because I was already in the shower. Those dark lights? It really did not interfere, it seems that it even helped “, smiled the brightest player of the party.

During the break, the last lights of the LFF stadium decided on the stadium, but even when they were on, the Faroese team, although more active, did not find the light at the end of the tunnel: the first Faroese goal to the Lithuanian goal area in time added ended with Gunnar Watnhamar’s goal. did not save.

“Regardless of the state of the game, it’s fun that we won. I want to thank the players who even found motivation in a friendly match. I wanted to end the year at home with a win. That’s what we managed to do. In the second half we were already there. a bit relaxed, calm, everyone’s thoughts were already on Minsk and Almaty. But this is a natural state. I think the dress rehearsal before Sunday’s game was a success, “said V. Urbonas happily after the match.

– How, in your opinion, did the experimentally confident pair of L. Mėgelaitis and V. Slivka look like in this match? – 15 minutes asked V. Urbon.

– Before the game we face a lack of this position. I think the solution really paid off. Both Linas successfully debuted in the team and Vykintas made a solid return to the national team. They both played neatly and I really don’t see any problems at least in midfield. Edgaras Utkus and Tautvydas Eliošius, who appeared in the second half, did not damage the video either.

– L.Mėgelaitis and E.Utkus will remain in the national team and will travel to Minsk and Almaty or will these players transfer to the U21 national team coach Donatas Vencevičius?

– I haven’t made a decision yet. I think I will decide tonight, we will evaluate everything and you will know my decision. But the situation forces us to look for solutions. Today, Mindaugas Palionis also unexpectedly retired just before the match. He began to have a fever, the temperature rose. I had to make forced changes. We’ll see if you can travel to Minsk.

– For the first time in history, Tomas Švedkauskas tied the captain’s blindfold. Why did you make that decision?

– Like I said, the situation is changing very fast these days. We have neither Fyodor Chernych nor Saulius Mikoliūnas. I had to search, but I want to say that Tom really did a great job during these few games. I think that the goalkeeper-captain, who, like the coach, sees the whole field is fine. I think this decision has paid off.

– Vytas Gašpuitis debuted on the defensive line with Edvinas Girdvainis. How do you rate their performance?

– This question should have come up sooner or later. You yourself understand that we will not be able to play all the Girdvainis and Palionis games. It was necessary to look for options. We planned for Vytas to appear on the field after the substitution, but we had to throw him on the field from the first minutes. In terms of concentration and play, he left a good impression on me, winning almost the entire air duel. It’s good that it was a match where we got to check out a lot of new players: we introduced Gašpuitis, Mėgelaitis, Utkai. I appreciate both the result and the performance of the individual players.

– What worries you most about the duel in Belarus and Kazakhstan?

– Now all our thoughts on the upcoming duel in Minsk. It’s a shame that we don’t have Vilnius Žalgiris players who have played important roles in the team recently. But that was the purpose of this match: we wanted to self-assess the available players and we did.

– Didn’t the unexpectedly dimmed stadium lights go out of the way?

– I think not, footballers are professionals. I think most felt that even a little darkness would complete this match successfully.

– Coaches, how long will this series of the Lithuanian team last without defeats?

– We don’t look at the numbers. For us, each upcoming game is paramount. Now we will think of a duel in Belarus and then a match in Kazakhstan.

“It was a match between two different teams. At half-time, we were only forced to defend, but the outlook in the second half was already better. We changed the positions of some players on the field, our defense line started to play higher and we found more free space for creative players and they started to feel more comfortable. We did not win, but overall I am satisfied with this rehearsal, which will be useful to us for the next match between the Nations League and Latvia, ”said Hakan Ericson, a Swede who coaches the Faroe Islands too poorly.