Futsal A League: the first pair of quarterfinals revealed

2024-01-22 13:15

Over the weekend, the remaining four matches of the seventeenth round of the "TopSport Futsal A League" were played, after which it became clear that one of the quarter-final pairs will consist of the "Bruklinas" and VIP clubs. However, it is not yet clear which team will have the home court advantage in this series.

The fact that these teams shared the fourth and fifth places in the regular season became clear after "Bruklinas" lost to "Vikingai" and VIP defeated "Gargzdai Entertainment". In the remaining matches, "Akmenes krastas" confidently dealt with representatives of "Hegelmann", and "Kauno Žalgiris" even more convincingly defeated "Radviliskis".

End of the losing streak

Including the cup tournament, "Vikingai" from Jonava, who had suffered three losses in a row, ended their losing streak by defeating "Bruklinas" from Vilkaviskis 5:3 at home. The problems of the Vilkaviskis team began even before a minute of play.

"Vikingai" went on the counterattack, and the visitors, trying to intercept it, committed a hard foul. Paulius Osauskas, at the ball, sent the ball into the net with a strong direct shot. Then just 34 seconds were played, and from that moment on, "Vikingai" were not in a losing position.

However, it should be noted that after a cold start to the duel, the "Bruklinas" players controlled the game and came very close to equalizing the score. After doing a lot of defensive work, "Vikingai" doubled the lead after a counterattack.

At the start of the second half of the match, the visitors reduced the lead, but then Jonava players scored three goals in just five minutes, and their lead (5:1) left no questions about the outcome of the match.

"Vikingai" - "Bruklinas" 5:3

Goals: P.Osauskas 2, M.Da Silva, Hernandez Silva, H.Smith; Francisco Gustavo, I.Rastutis, Francisco Anderson.

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Poker

Edgaras Baranauskas, in excellent sporting form, contributed four goals to the victory against "Gargzdai Entertainment". It is worth noting that the VIP attack leader scored in eight consecutive matches, and in January alone (in four matches) he scored 11 goals.

Arturas Juchnas started the duel very actively, but the home team's goalkeeper reacted cold-bloodedly to his shots. After playing for almost five minutes, Edgaras Baranauskas, in a striker position, received the ball, turned around and started his show.

The second goal of the player was scored after a corner kick. Again unmarked, E. Baranauskas scored a double with a strong shot, later a hat-trick with a penalty kick, and left the goal of the opponents for a poker. Meanwhile, the scoreboard showed 1:4.

The Gargzdai team continued to play with five outfield players without a goalkeeper, which allowed them to reduce the deficit to 3:4. The third goal was scored with 22 seconds left to play. It was clearly too little for the hosts.

"Gargzdai Entertainment" - VIP 3:4

Goals: D.Surblys, J.Vainikaitis, S.Juska; E.Baranauskas 4.

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Last hope

Although the "VGTU Vilkai" played their round matches on Thursday, they have not yet lost hope of securing a place in the A League. The footballers of "Akmenes krastas" contributed to this conservation by defeating the "Hegelmann" club, who were in ninth place. Without a doubt, in this non-televised duel between "VGTU Vilkai" and "Hegelmann", the Kaunas team remains the absolute favorites.

In the match between "Hegelmann" and "Akmenes krastas", the first goal had to wait for 13 minutes. And despite the huge dominance of the Akmenes krastas team, the first goals were scored by the home team. Janderson put everything in place with a double before the break, and in the second half, the visitors' lead increased in various ways.

With six minutes left to play, Tadas Slavinskas reduced the deficit to 2:4 with a beautiful shot from an acute angle, but Janderson and Jose Wellington at the end of the match made the team's lead even more convincing. Interestingly, leading 4:2, the footballers of "Akmenes krastas" replaced the goalkeeper with a fifth outfield player.

"Hegelmann" - "Akmenes krastas" 2:6

Goals: K.Bondarenko, T.Slavinskas; Janderson 3, G.Da Araujo, I.Kozlovs, J.Wellington.

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Brazilian fiesta

The Brazilians Vinicius and Igor Casula from "Kauno Žalgiris" created such a fiesta in the match against "Radviliskis" that the guests had to acknowledge a defeat with a ten-goal difference. The first one contributed to the victory with 4, the second with 3 goals.

The first goal was scored in the second minute when Vinicius cleared the opponents' goal with a powerful long shot. Vinicius scored the second and third goals into empty nets - in the first case from the penalty spot, in the second - from seven meters. By the way, with the score 0:1, "Radviliskis" had two fantastic opportunities.

As the lead began to grow, the guests became disoriented, and the dominating Žalgiris players did what they wanted. The lead could have been even greater, as the guests gave the ball to the Kaunas team in their own half and created absolutely nothing themselves.

"Kauno Žalgiris" - "Radviliskis" 10:0

Goals: Vinicius 4, I.Casula 3, A.Voskunovic, Vitinho, K.Petravicius (own goal).