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In the Baltic Football League A group match on Tuesday in Narva, the fate of the first place will be decided between local team "Trans" and Kaunas "FBK Kaunas".
Narva's "Krenholmi" stadium, 18:00
Baltic Football League 6th round match
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Referee - Vadims Direktorenko (Latvia)
Both clubs have already secured their place in the next stage, as the third team of the group "Dinaburg" was disqualified, so we are likely to see faces this season that we rarely see in the starting lineup of the Lithuanian champions.
It is worth noting that after more than two years of treating a serious injury, defender Darius Sanajevas finally returned to the lineup. However, Bulgarian coach Angel Červenkov may have to do without the versatile Pascal Mendy, who missed the last Lithuanian championship matches with "Šiauliai" for unknown reasons, unexpectedly ending in a goalless draw.
It can be expected that Mindaugas Grigalevičius or Artūras Rimkevičius will replace Ričardas Beniušis, who scored 14 goals, and Brazilian Rafael Ladesma, who scored 4 times in the starting lineup. This is also an opportunity for D.Sanajevas to improve his form, and young players Mantas Fridrikas and Marius Činikas will likely have more playing time.
"As you all know, the result is not too important for either of the teams, as the tickets to the quarterfinals are already in our pockets. I think not only us will use this match as a rehearsal for the quarterfinal," - said Kaunas coach Angel Červenkov.
"Perhaps the hosts will have more motivation, but we always aim to win and our goal in Estonia remains the same," - said the Bulgarian.
Lately, apart from the match with Šiauliai, the people of Kaunas have been crushing their opponents – "Šilutė" was defeated 4-0, as well as the same "Šiauliai", and Visaginas "Inter" suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat.
"I think the hosts, remembering the first match in Lithuania (then "Kaunas" won 3-2 after a dramatic battle), will not be an easy target for us," D.Sanajevas affirmed. "They made us work until the final whistle, and we can be sure they will do the same on their own turf."
"We must strive with all our might to secure the first place in the group," said the defender.
Meanwhile, the situation of the "Trans" team is slightly different at the moment. Although the head coach Valery Bondarenko does not have a headache due to injuries, the fatigue of the main footballers has become a significant problem. Almost throughout this season, the team has relied on the same 11-12 players, and there are no equivalent substitutes on the bench.
Nevertheless, this season, the Narva team became a surprise in the Estonian championship and the only team that has not suffered a single defeat. However, their last failure in the country's cup final against Tallinn Levadia is a sign that the upstart's pace is gradually slowing down.
There should be no major surprises in the Estonians' starting lineup - V.Bondarenko consistently chooses the standard 4-4-2 tactical scheme, which is based on physically strong midfielder Aleksandras Kulikas and the excellent attacking duo of Dmitriy Lipartov and Maksim Gruznov. Both players are fast and have already scored 11 and 7 goals respectively this season. They are also supported by defender Aleksandras Dubokinas, who has scored 6 times, but the contribution of other players is minimal.
"This will be our second match against the people of Kaunas, so we know that they are a team that likes aggressive and combination football. Our main goal will be to demonstrate good football against a very strong club," said V.Bondarenko.
"Trans" defender Vladislav Ivanov, like his Lithuanian counterparts, did not hide the fact that the result will not be the most important thing: "These matches will be our last in the first stage, so we will pay less attention to the result and try to delight the fans with beautiful play."
Possible starting lineups:
"Kaunas": Modestas Stonys; Mantas Fridrikas, Mindaugas Bagužis, Darius Sanajevas, Nerijus Radžius; Audrius Kšanavicius, Giedrius Barevičius, Andrius Bartkus, Marius Činikas; Mindaugas Grigalevičius, Artūras Rimkevičius;
"Trans": Sergej Ussoltsev; Oleg Lepik, Aleksandr Kulik, Dimitriy Dobrovolskiy, Aleksej Gorškov; Aleksandr Trassenkov, Oleg Gorjatšov, Stanislav Kitto, Aleksandr Dubokin; Maksim Gruznov, Dimitrij Lipartov"
