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Zero to seventeen. Such is the ratio of scored and missed goals in the last fourteen matches of the Lithuanian national football team. The last goal against Igor Pankratjevo's opponents fell a long time ago - on October 9, 2014, when Saulius Mikoliūnas scored a header to secure a victory for our team against the Estonians. Back then, it seemed that if everything went well, the team was capable of fighting for a historic ticket to the European Championship in France. Now it seems that it will be quite decent if we manage to achieve a draw against San Marino and secure the fifth place in the group. People, who invested money into scarves half a year ago claiming they would give their heart for the national team, are now investing in Top Sport checks with a chance of Swiss victory. There is no hope or belief left. Our federation's bachelors, the Lithuanian version of fictional psychos, drained all the joy of the Lithuanian national team fans (to say they drained the money, I won't even mention, you all know that). Failure against Switzerland, failure against England, an even greater failure against Hungary - it seems there is nowhere lower to fall. Three matches lost by the same scoreline - 0:4, and Igor P. after the match with the Hungarians says: "The result is always important, at least to me." Zero four is quite a tragic result, at least for me. And the attempt to cover it up by saying that the players are new, not accustomed to playing together, is just absurd - if they are not used to playing together, they shouldn't be allowed to play together. Baravykas, Klimavicius (with all due respect to these footballers) - are these players capable of playing against Dzsudzsak or Stieber? Will the fact that they didn't make a bad impression on the coach help us qualify for the European Championship? After the Swiss failure, there were many questions left, but Lithuanians managed to answer them a few days later - in the match against Malta. Through various football computer games, if your club is struggling and you want to get it back on the path to victory, you can arrange friendly matches with your team's reserves or some other team that doesn't cherish football traditions too much - an easy victory brings confidence to the players. It seems that the Lithuanian Football Federation also tried this trick - wanting the mood before the match with the Swiss to be at least somewhat lighter, they decided to play a friendly match against minnows Malta, who are ranked 145th in the FIFA rankings. The match was played, and the scoreboard showed a 2:0 victory for the hosts. Beautiful goals? Yes. But if you don't allow shots and defend disciplinedly, there won't be any. After losses (and in other cases), Pankratjevas likes to emphasize that nowadays everyone knows how to play football. So why don't we? We have been intensively improving infrastructure for a whole decade, building new stadiums, taking care of youth football... Everywhere there are only bachelors and their demagoguery. Of course, it's a topic that has been discussed hundreds of times, but I must at least rhetorically ask. Where is Karčemarskas? Where is Stankevičius? Where is Šemberas? Where is Kalonas, who, perhaps coincidentally, disappeared from the national team when Lithuania's goal drought began? Karčemarskas can be forgiven, Arlauskis is actually playing quite well, without him, we probably wouldn't have brought back eight goals from Wembley, but tell me, why is George Freidgeimas playing as a center-back against England, one of the elite national teams? Firstly, that's not his position. Secondly, his attributes, speed, and technical arsenal do not allow him to play in that position. The most faithful fans of the national team may argue that allowing Freidgeimas to play as a center-back was a tactical trick? Unfortunately. We haven't seen anything related to tactical decisions in the national team since the days of Jose Couceiro. In the holding midfielder position, Tomas Mikuckis - an attempt at The Special One's seasonal deployment of players, which represented by young French defender Kurt Zouma. Again, Mikuckis is not Zouma - Mikuckis arrived after a long injury, in poor sporting form, probably never played as a holding midfielder in his life. Think about it, if all internal conflicts, personal antagonisms, and bachelors' expulsions were forgotten, and instead of Freidgeimas and Mikuckis, Stankevičius and Šemberas were playing? We would have lost, of course, but Harry Kane would probably have had to wait for his debut goal, and the mockery from the English media wouldn't have been half as cruel as we heard. Thanks to Justas Kontrimas for the third image. A person who didn't vow to his Vilijampole style at Wembley Stadium and appeared in the match against England in a full training line-up, seems not to be included in the national team for a long time. A very realistic and, in my opinion, not a bad candidate for the coaching position - longtime national team striker Edgaras Jankauskas. Last year with the A League debutant "Trakai" team, Jankauskas has proven to have coaching abilities, and although he was dismissed at the end of the season, he left only good memories. Of course, you could look for a coach abroad, find a strategist who can renew our Soviet tactics, but I doubt the current federation employees have time to search for a coach abroad. Today we play against the Swiss, it's probably clear to everyone how the match will end, but watch it. Out of respect for the players who have become victims of the system, who are willing to fight and not step out of their territory. June 14th - a day of Sorrow and Hope, let's mourn the results of our national team and hope that the day will come when the bachelors' heads will roll, and Lithuania will be able to be proud of the results of its national team. Good football. Football from a foreign land - futbolostebetojas.blogas.lt
