Even with thinning neighboring Scotland will try to unleash anger on Lithuania

2011-09-05 14:00 © EuroFootball.com

In the Scottish national football team, there will be twelve footballers from English Premier League clubs, six representatives from lower leagues, and only four players from the Scottish championship playing against Lithuania.

The team captain, Manchester United defender Darren Fletcher, returned to the team for matches against the Czech Republic and Lithuania after missing out this year due to illness. "He is our best player and a real example to other team members," said Scottish coach Craig Levein about the captain's return.

Guided by D. Fletcher, the Scots played a 2-2 draw at home against the Czech Republic on Saturday. The visitors dominated the field in the first half, but just before halftime, Kenny Miller put the Scots in the lead.

After the break, the Czechs equalized, but D. Fletcher soon restored Scotland's lead. However, at the end of the match, the Czech Republic converted a penalty awarded by the referee, and the match ended in a draw.

The decision of Dutch referee Kevin Blom to award a penalty to Scotland but then not to award one to the Czechs in the next episode sparked outrage in the Scottish camp. After the draw, both Lithuanians and Scots have five points each and are five points behind the Czech Republic.

According to C. Levein, his players should make use of the anger accumulated from the draw when playing against Lithuania: "Now we have to win all three of our matches. We are ready for this challenge, the players are fired up, and we will try to take advantage of it."

After the match against the Czech Republic, there have been changes in the Scottish lineup. Defender Steven Whittaker returns to the team after disqualification, but both midfielder Scott Brown and forward Kenny Miller received their second yellow cards in this qualifying cycle and will not play against the Lithuanians. Forward Craig Mackail-Smith did not recover from his injury and returned to his club, while Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam will also be unavailable for the match.

The match between the Scottish and Lithuanian national teams will take place at Glasgow's Hampden park stadium on Tuesday at 22:00 local time. The match will be broadcast by the Lithuanian TV channel "Lietuvos rytas."

Scottish national team lineup for the match against Lithuania:

Goalkeepers:

Allan McGregor (Glasgow Rangers)

Matt Gilks (Blackpool FC, England)

Iain Turner (Preston North End, England)

Defenders:

Phil Bardsley (Sunderland FC, England)

Christophe Berra (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)

Gary Caldwell (Wigan Athletic, England)

Stephen Crainey (Blackpool FC, England)

Grant Hanley (Blackburn Rovers, England)

Alan Hutton (Tottenham Hotspur, England)