A league review: champions rose from the bottom

2024-06-04 07:13 © Pauliaus Židonio

After the 16th round of the "TOPsport A lyga," teams will have an almost two-week break.

Success. The Kaunas District "Hegelmann" club suffered only one defeat in the last nine matches in the "TOPsport A lyga." Last Friday, they defeated Alytaus DFK "Dainava" 2-0 as a revenge.

The first goal in the 16th match of this year's Lithuanian championship was scored by the 31-year-old Brazilian Michael Thuique. A little over a month ago, M. Thuique also scored in Alytus - it was in the "FPRO LFF taurės" match.

Performance. Andrius Skerla's team played three matches in a few days, with few changes made in Alytus.

Vilius Armalas, playing on the left side of defense, scored a goal and made an assist. "Hegelmann" players have 29 points and are firmly in 2nd place.

Surge. Marijampolė's "Sūduva" entered the national team break in good spirits, defeating Gargždai's "Bangą" 1-0 at home after Steve Lawson's penalty.

Dovydas Lastauskas' team matched Gargždai with 19 points, who are struggling in matches against favorites in the second round.

Commentary. D. Lastauskas, who suffered almost a two-digit number of player losses, gave Kasparas Kriščiūnas, a 17-year-old, the opportunity to debut in the "TOPsport A lyga."

"Kasparas Kriščiūnas was last this happy during Christmas when he received gifts other than coal," - the strategist, who was happy to celebrate the first home victory this year, said with good spirits.

Debut. The new head coach of "Panevėžio," Stijn Vreven, achieved a victory in his first attempt - they beat FA "Šiauliai" 2-0.

The defending champions, who were for a while the only team in Europe to slump to the bottom of the table after winning the previous season, rose to 9th place and are four points behind the 5th position.

Return. Eligijus Jankauskas, who played just two matches at the beginning of March after a three-month break, appeared on the field again.

Against his former team's goal, E. Jankauskas could have scored, but the ball hit the post. The representatives of the Suns City suffered three defeats in the last four matches.

Recovery. For the second time in a week, enthusiastic fans arrived in Širvintos to watch their supported team, Vilnius' "Žalgiris," get revenge against Vilnius District's "TransINVEST" - 3:1.

It was the 11th victory of the vice-champions in 16 matches, so the Vilnius team with 37 points maintained an 8-point lead over the "Hegelmann" players.

Success. On his 35th birthday, Romanian Liviu Antalis scored two goals and now has a total of 58 goals in the Lithuanian championship. He is second among all foreign players according to this indicator.

The Brazilian Rafael Ledesma, who defended the honor of FBK "Kaunas," "Sūduva," and "Panevėžio" before, is still in the lead. In the striker's career, he scored 65 goals.

Finally. In a tough match, "Kauno Žalgiris" defeated Telšiai's "Džiuga" 1-0 away and approached the top three, trailing by just 2 points.

In the 15 matches this year, Filip Dangubičius opened the scoring with his goal. The Croatian, who scored 18 goals last season, became the author of the winning strike.

Break. There will be an almost two-week break in the "TOPsport A lyga" - during which the Lithuanian national team will compete in the Baltic Cup.

The championship clubs will return to their matchups on June 15-16, starting with the 17th round.