© EuroFootball.com
On May 23-25 in Vilnius, an international U-16 (players born in 1996 and younger) football tournament of four countries' national teams will take place. Young football players from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus will compete at the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) stadium.
The tournament is organized with the help of the European Football Association (UEFA), which decided last year to encourage the improvement of national youth teams under the "UEFA Development" program. Similar tournaments have already taken place in five countries this year.
For the Lithuanian U-16 national team, this tournament is one of the main preparation stages before the European U-17 Championship qualifying matches in Belgium this autumn. The young footballers have been diligently preparing in Palanga.
"The camp's main focus was on balancing the players energetically and polishing tactical combinations. We aimed to prepare the national team players properly for this tournament and we are grateful to the LFF for providing excellent preparation conditions for the tournament," said U-16 team strategist Vytautas Vaškūnas.
The team composition is almost the same as in the friendly matches played in Kaunas last April against peers from Greece. "During the camp, Benas Spietinis got injured, but we hope he will recover in time. We will also have to manage without the Ruku brothers from Zenit St. Petersburg. All other national team players are well known to us, healthy, and ready for the tournament," said V. Vaškūnas.
The hosts, Lithuanian footballers, will compete in the tournament against their neighbors - teams from Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus.
"We had to play against Latvian footballers during a friendly tournament in Moscow last year, but we know the Estonians and Belarusians much less. In any case, we will strive to fight for victory in every match. Our goal is to win the tournament," said U-16 team coach V. Vaškūnas.
The tournament matches will start on Wednesday at 12:00 with a match between the U-16 teams of Latvia and Belarus, followed by a match between the teams of Lithuania and Estonia at 16:00 at the LFF stadium. The winners of these matches will compete in the tournament final on Friday, while the losers will play for third place.
On May 27-28 in Vilnius, there will also be a girls' (born in 1995 and younger) U-17 tournament, where teams from the same countries will compete.
Next year in Lithuania, our team will play with the strongest U-19 national teams on the continent - our country has earned the right to host the final stage of the championship in this age group.
Composition of the Lithuanian U-16 boys' national team:
Goalkeepers: Deividas Šalaševičius (National Football Academy - Vilnius), Edvinas Gertmonas (NFA-Šilalė).
Defenders: Ernestas Pečiulis (NFA - Kėdainiai), Laimonas Jurevičius (NFA - Kaunas), Rimvydas Sadauskas (NFA - Kaunas), Benas Spietinis (Jonava FM), Martynas Zaleckis (NFA - Kaunas), Lukas Pupšys (NFA-Telšiai), Justas Adamas (Klaipėda FM).
Midfielders: Domantas Šimkus (NFA - Šiauliai), Tomas Keršulis (NFA - Kaunas), Ainas Bareikis (Kaunas FM), Daniel Romanovskij (Vilnius FM), Edvinas Puzara (Marijampolė FM), Tomas Dombrauskis ("Leicester City", England), Vilius Drazdauskas ("RB Leipzig", Germany).
Forwards: Artur Skuratovič (Vilnius FM), Skirmantas Rakauskas (NFA - Klaipėda), Donatas Šėgžda (NFA - Radviliškis).
Schedule of the U-16 boys' tournament:
Wednesday (May 23rd)
12:00 - Belarus U-16 vs. Latvia U-16
16:00 - Lithuania U-16 vs. Estonia U-16
Friday (May 25th)
12:00 - Match for 3rd place
16:00 - Final
