E. Alimkinas: "The goal was successfully achieved"

2025-01-03 11:42

The Lithuanian U-19 futsal team, preparing for the European futsal championship qualifiers, recently played in Saudi Arabia, where they had two matches against the local peers. In the first encounter, the Lithuanians triumphed 4:3, while in the second match, they lost 3:5.

"I would say we played two very similar matches with the same scenario. In both, we played better in the first halves and created significant advantages after 30 minutes (4:1 and 3:1). However, in both games, we performed very poorly at the end, conceding two goals each time. While the advantage we built in the first match was enough for victory, in the second match, the opponents managed to level the score."

"The match could have ended like that, but with a couple of minutes left, I decided to take a risk with a 'flying' goalkeeper. The risk did not pay off, and we were punished with two more goals right at the end. I take responsibility for that result, but as I mentioned, it was important to see what works and where we still need to improve," said the national team's head coach, Edvinas Alimkinas, upon returning to Lithuania.

The camp in the exotic country was the first in the history of the recently established U-19 futsal team. Despite this, the coach believes that such trips should not be the players' motivation.

"They should be motivated solely by the opportunity to represent their country in yellow jerseys, no matter where they play. However, it is understandable that when you have to travel to such a rarely visited country, it adds extra desire for players to participate in the camp. I want to thank our futsal association for the opportunity to take the young athletes to Saudi Arabia," Alimkinas stated.

This camp was the last one for the team before the qualifying tournament taking place in Druskininkai in the last week of January. One of the final preparations for the qualifiers was aimed at gaining as much international match experience as possible, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in play. To see what they do best and which aspects of the game still need work.

"The goals were achieved. The players gained experience, while the coaches gathered material. Now, we will have to refine and improve our game through combined efforts."

Before the European championship qualifiers, we will play two more friendly matches against local clubs. In these matches, we will continue working on improving our game. What worries me the most are the players' injuries.

I previously mentioned that the leaders of this team will have to be Titas Pivovaras and Radvilas Bliukis, who played in the last qualifiers among older players, but it is already clear that both will not be able to help due to serious injuries," the coach pointed out.

In the qualifiers, the team will face the national teams of Georgia, Malta, and Germany. According to E. Alimkinas, the young German and Georgian teams share the most similarities with the Saudi Arabian team.

"For now, we are focusing all our attention on improving our own game. We did not burden our players' minds with thoughts of future opponents. However, when it comes to them, probably the most similarities can be found in the play of the German and Georgian national teams."

The Saudi Arabian players were very individually skilled, and the team was well organized. We had quite a bit of trouble in defense. However, we must prepare ourselves because in Druskininkai, we will face three even stronger teams," concluded E. Alimkinas.