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After the match in Greece, Csaba Laszlo, the coach of the Lithuanian national football team, was disappointed that the team couldn't repeat the first half result and had to admit the opponent's superiority.
The national team players stated that the match didn't go as well for our team as they would have liked, and the opponents were simply of higher skill.
The head coach of the Lithuanian national team, Csaba Laszlo:
"I am disappointed, but not because we lost. After the first 45 minutes, the result was 0:0, the team played well in a disciplined positional manner, the Greeks didn't have 100% chances - mostly just shots from far away.
In the first half, we defended well, and before the break, the Greek attack started to stall. During the break, I emphasized to the players that especially in the first 20 minutes, we need to be very careful and attentive, because if we don't concede a goal, the scenario from the first half could repeat. However, we allowed the opponents to score in the tenth minute of the second half. It's regrettable.
Another thing - we can talk about tactical rearrangements or individual mistakes. But we need to hold on to the ball better. We can't afford to lose it after two passes. It's impossible to withstand the pressure throughout the entire match, we need to create dangerous attacks ourselves. It worked against Slovakia, but this time we too often lost the ball.
We have difficulties in attack. Today, I tried D. Šernas, A. Velička, A. Novikov, A. Rimkevičius, but we couldn't threaten the opponent's goal. It's a big headache for me.
Playing at the international level against teams like Greece, you are punished for every missed opportunity. It's a good lesson for us. Greeks have high-level defenders, as well as equivalent midfielders and attackers. It's no coincidence that Greeks have been playing in the final stages of European and World Championships in recent years.
Now we have two away matches ahead. We must definitely win in Liechtenstein and at least bring a point from Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Lithuanian national team defender Arūnas Klimavičius:
"I think we lacked skill. The Greek team is stronger. We managed to hold on in the first half, but not in the second. The opponents created too many chances for us to hope for a draw. Goals come from mistakes. Perhaps fatigue played a role. The second half didn't go well. The opponents' individual skill is higher, we lost the micro-duels. Everything added up, and chances turned into goals."
Lithuanian national team forward Artūras Rimkevičius:
"The game didn't go as we hoped. It was difficult to fight, we couldn't hold on to the ball. When we managed to do that, the game was better. The Greeks proved that they are stronger today. Today, things didn't go well, both individually and collectively. We didn't create much in front of the opponent's goal. After Greek attacks, Ž. Karčemarskas saved a couple of times, but overall, the opponents capitalized on their chances quite well."
Lithuanian national team captain, defender Deividas Šemberas:
"We didn't create enough chances for the result to be different. It's a pity, but the loss complicates our hopes of achieving high goals. I think today the game plan partially worked, but we also didn't do a lot of things. There were also childish mistakes. It's hard to expect that a team like Greece wouldn't capitalize on them. We have a young team, many players lack high-level match experience. There is a lot to improve."
Lithuanian national team midfielder Gediminas Vičius:
"The Greek national team is strong, they showed their skill. We played according to our abilities, although we could have played better. In that case, the result would also have been better. We will try to analyze the mistakes and not make them again. We need to draw conclusions."
