N. Kesminas: we have opportunities, but the result is zero, just like zero.

2025-03-22 17:58 © Stop kadras

Football journalist Nerijus Kesminas evaluated the performance of the Lithuanian national team in the World Cup qualifying match against the Polish eleven on social media.

"It seems that the compliments for the Lithuanian national team players are not vital for them today. They received the biggest one of all possible compliments yesterday.

From whom? From Robert Lewandowski: having scored the only goal in the World Cup qualifying match against the Lithuanians, the Polish superstar initially wiped his forehead with one hand and then with the other.

A gesture symbolizing relief, and there’s no doubt that it was sincere. The Poles really had a tough football evening in Warsaw.

At this point, it’s not worth paying attention to the pre-match ramblings of the football legends of the opposing country and the current UEFA vice-president Zbigniew Boniek, stating that the result will disappoint if the Poles do not score four or five goals against Lithuania. They neither have the habit of scoring that many nor do we concede that many.

But if the curtain of the spectacle had fallen with a tie, Poland would have indeed experienced a mild shock. But who, besides us, who honestly cheered for our team yesterday, cares about that now?

Paraphrasing national team coach Edgaras Jankauskas, the stuck record continues to play the same melody: we play, we fight, we have chances, but the result is as zero as ever. Whistleblower day 24/7.

On the other hand, it cannot be otherwise when, being free, you allow yourself - far from the first time in the past couple of years - to not score from five meters. Catastrophically unlucky, - says the coach.

The dog is having bad luck, confusing the beehive with its kennel in the darkness. In the case of the Lithuanian national team, the conclusion is different, and however unpleasant it is to admit, it raises fewer and fewer doubts: to score those goals, they simply lack the calm needed in such situations. Otherwise - individual mastery.

However, despite everything, I also will not change the stuck record: there’s no need to dramatize; the time for panic has not yet come. There is hope that it will not come.

Yesterday they provided us with a fight worth admiring and that dose of composure and self-confidence that is so lacking near the opponent's goal, especially when the action was taking place in our territory. The bold experiments of E. Jankauskas in choosing the starting lineup essentially paid off - if the Poles had not scored, we might even say that it justified itself a hundred percent.

No goals? None. What to do? Nothing, unless you have other suggestions.

Wait. Wait for the potential of Armando Kučys and Gvidas Gineitis to turn into real numbers in the goals scored column.

Both have plenty of time - we’re talking about boys who, according to the laws of the Republic of Lithuania, still wouldn’t have been served beer in a bar a couple of years ago.

In summary - the Polish team is not yet the bite that the young E. Jankauskas' team can chew and digest. Yes, they did not bring points back from Warsaw, but the time when they will have those points is approaching.

When? Monday. Our boys can definitely undress the Finns at home or at least not lose to them. Although...

I predicted something similar before both Nations League matches against Cyprus. We all know how that ended, so let’s pretend you didn’t read the previous paragraph, thanks.

So, P.S. The fact that you are still reading this text suggests that you are not indifferent to the Lithuanian national team. You can test how much you know about it and its history on the website kesminas.eu - I even posted a small quiz there before the match against the Poles. Try it if you’re interested,” - wrote N. Kesminas.