Futsal A League – Playoff Time

2025-02-14 12:49 © lff.lt

Defending the title of the "TOPsport futsal A league” champion, the regular season winner "Kauno Žalgiris” will begin the quarterfinals of the playoffs with a match against "Radviliškis” on Saturday. Over the weekend, the first matches of the best-of-three series will also be played: "Vikingai” – "VGTU Vilkai”, "Bruklinas” – VIP, and "Gargždų pramogos” – "Akmenės kraštas”.

"Kauno Žalgiris” – "Radviliškis”

Having secured all twelve victories in the regular season, "Kauno Žalgiris” nearly slipped in the cup quarterfinals. Nonetheless, they defeated "Akmenės kraštas” 2:1, and the Kaunas team enters the playoffs with a strong favorite label.

"We are preparing responsibly for each match. Last week, it was not our best performance; we had very good opportunities to score, and failing to take them made the game very difficult. This only proves to us once again that not capitalizing on chances makes the matches very tough.

Talking about the quarterfinals against "Radviliškis”, I believe we are the favorites of this pair, but we must approach it responsibly. The most important battles are starting, and there should not even be a hint of relaxation,” said "Kauno Žalgiris” captain Justinas Zagurskas.

"Radviliškis” finished in eighth place during the regular season. Having started the season quite well and competing for much higher positions, the players from Radviliškis enter the playoffs after suffering seven consecutive losses. The last time the future opponents of "Kauno Žalgiris” added to their points tally was on December 1 last year.

"We are heading into the playoffs the same way we approach every match. We know the opponent is stronger, but we have to grow individually and try to find good moments in our game. After the last match against "Kauno Žalgiris”, although the result was not encouraging, we did not come out with our heads down, as the team did the best they could.

"Radviliškis” last year offered Edas Romanovas to Kaunas, and this year we could suggest Titas Boriavičius, who would be arriving on two wheels to get acquainted with the team,” mood before the quarterfinals was described by Kristupas Petravičius.

"Vikingai” – "VGTU Vilkai”

Both of these teams finished the regular season much better than they started. "Vikingai” secured second place thanks to a five-match winning streak that began from the 14th round, while "VGTU Vilkai” earned their seventh place by garnering 9 points in the second round.

However, the teams enter the playoffs with different moods. "Vikingai” recently congratulated Paulius Osauskas for becoming the best player of the month, while "VGTU Vilkai” are facing losses due to the imminent start of the big football season.

"We are heading into the playoffs in really good spirits. What we talked about since January, we have accomplished. Now a new stage awaits, which everyone has been anticipating throughout the season, as this is where the real battles for the best spots begin. In fact, we need to focus only on ourselves.

We cannot think that we are already in the semifinals – we need to be concentrated from the first whistle until the very end of the match. "Vilkai” is a young team, and they certainly have something to prove, so if we play disciplined, I believe everything will be fine,” said P. Osauskas.

"We are struggling to assemble a squad due to injuries and the upcoming start of the big football season. "Vikingai” are the favorites of this pair, but as always, everything is decided on the pitch,” said Marijus Rimas.

"Bruklinas” – VIP

In terms of the season's flow, "Bruklinas” could have finished the regular season either in second or fourth place. Now it can be stated that they did not reach their maximum potential. In the case of success in the quarterfinals, it is unlikely that "Bruklinas” would still have the home advantage. On the other hand, third place protects them from the possibility of facing "Kauno Žalgiris” in the semifinals.

"The season ended in third place, which means we won't meet "Žalgiris” until the final. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of that and achieve a higher position than last year. Of course, there’s still a lot to do before that.

With VIP, we are the favorites and have the home advantage; we will start the first match at home, so we will try to progress to the next stage by playing only two matches. VIP won’t be giving away victories for free, so we need to maintain focus and show our fight throughout the game,” said Gintaras Čibirka.

VIP has been one of the most inconsistent teams this season, with their performance fluctuating from strongly negative to strongly positive within a week. Conversely, two weeks before the finish, VIP was still in fifth place but then lost to their direct competitor "Akmenės kraštas”, which jumped into fifth place.

"We are entering the playoffs with the mindset that we will fight until the end. Of course, "Bruklinas” is the favorite of this pair, as they proved during the regular season, but we won’t give up and will try to win,” said Domantas Nebilevičius.

"Gargždų pramogos” – "Akmenės kraštas”

Before the 2024/2025 season, nearly all futsal experts rated "Akmenės kraštas” much better than "Gargždų pramogos.” However, the season started in such a way that Akmenė did not show results, while Gargždai temporarily settled at the top of the tournament table.

Lukas Sipavičius and especially Deividas Reimaris fundamentally changed the face of "Gargždų pramogos” since last season. It seemed that at least in the regular season, second place awaited the team, but towards the end, the Gargždai team’s performance started to falter, and victories were replaced by losses. An important aspect is that "Pramogos” managed to maintain the home court advantage in the pair with "Akmenės kraštas.”

"All thoughts are only about the first match of the series, as every other match is crucial for our team. We know this is playoffs, so each of us will be in maximum readiness. I personally don’t see any favorites in this pair,” commented Donatas Surblys.

Struggling to find their game and without results, the leaders of "Akmenės kraštas” took drastic measures. Some players were released, while agreements were made with others, and the team began to play as expected from the very beginning. "Akmenės kraštas” enters the playoffs after a very strong battle against "Kauno Žalgiris” in the cup quarterfinals.

"We enter the playoffs in good spirits, despite the defeat in the cup tournament. We feel that we are in the best shape and will try to prove that in the quarterfinal series. Let the experts assign the favorite labels to whoever they want. In my opinion, both teams deserve each other, so an interesting series awaits,” said Tomas Salamanavičius.