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The Lithuanian national youth (U-17 and U-19) football teams will start their battles in the Baltic Youth Cup on Tuesday, where they will compete against opponents from Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.
Played in the I League
The Lithuanian young footballers have been preparing for these competitions throughout the past week. The U-19 team (born in 1994 and younger) trained in Palanga, while the U-17 team (born in 1996 and younger) trained in Šilutė.
The U-17 team played against the Estonians in May in Vilnius.
In the U-19 team, some invited players will not be able to join due to Deimantas Petravičius, a key player from "Nottingham Forest" in England, unexpectedly falling ill, as well as Lukas Narbutas, a goalkeeper from Panevėžys "Ekrano", and defender Lukas Pangonis all suffering injuries.
In preparation for the Baltic Cup, the U-19 team played one match. This team is based on the National Football Academy team in the I League - and on Tuesday, they defeated the "Palanga" team. Donatas Kazlauskas scored two goals for the team in this match, while Simonas Stankevičius added one.
According to the head coach of the U-19 team, Antanas Vingilys, the Baltic Cup matches are always a good opportunity to test the team's abilities. "We expect challenging and interesting matches against opponents we know well. We will strive to fight for victory in each game and hope to perform much better than we did last year in Estonia," said A. Vingilys.
Preparing for the Baltic Cup, the U-17 team also heads to Latvia with a less than full-strength squad. Players such as the Rukas brothers representing St. Petersburg's "Zenit" team have not managed to finalize their paperwork and Vilius Drazdauskas, playing for "RasenBallsport Leipzig" in Germany, will also not be available for the national team.
According to Vytautas Vaškūnas, who leads the U-17 team, an interesting and challenging tournament awaits. "These matches have deep traditions, and every team wants to win them. We will try to do the same. It is good practice before the UEFA European U-17 Championship qualifying round taking place in Belgium this autumn. During the tournament, we will analyze the team's game and aim for victory in every match. We would like to get revenge against the Estonian team, to whom we recently suffered a painful defeat," said the team's strategist.
The Baltic Cup matches will start on Tuesday at 12 p.m. with the U-17 team playing against the hosts from Latvia in Staicele. From 5 p.m. onwards, the U-19 teams of Lithuania and Latvia will play. On Wednesday in Valmiera, both Lithuanian teams will test their strength against the teams from Finland, and on Friday, the tournament will conclude with matches against Latvia.
Schedule of matches for Lithuanian U-17 and U-19 national teams in the Baltic Cup:
June 26 (Tuesday) 12 p.m. Latvia U-17 - Lithuania U-17 (Staicele stadium) 5 p.m. Latvia U-19 - Lithuania U-19 (Staicele stadium)
June 27 (Wednesday) 12 p.m. Lithuania U-19 - Finland U-19 (Valmiera stadium) 6 p.m. Lithuania U-17 - Finland U-17 (Valmiera stadium)
June 29 (Friday) 12 p.m. Estonia U-17 - Lithuania U-17 (Valmiera stadium) 6 p.m. Estonia U-19 - Lithuania U-19 (Valmiera stadium)
Composition of the U-19 national team for the Baltic Cup:
Goalkeepers: Marius Suvaizdis (National Football Academy - Panevėžys), Tomas Švedkauskas ("Fiorentina", Italy)
Defenders: Justas Raziūnas (NFA - Šilutė), Julius Aleksandravičius (NFA - Jonava), Lukas Artimavičius (NFA - Tauragė), Džiugas Petrauskas (NFA - Panevėžys), Lukas Čerkauskas (Panevėžio "Ekranas").
Midfielders: Tomas Galdikas (NFA - Kretinga), Gabrielius Judickas (NFA - Marijampolė), Mykolas Krasnovskis (NFA - Trakai), Gratas Sirgėdas (NFA - Panevėžys), Tadas Lekeckas (NFA - Marijampolė), Klaudijus Upstas (NFA - Kaunas), Edvinas Stonkus (NFA - Kybartai), Lukas Spalvis (NFA - Vilnius), Povilas Kiselevskis (Marijampolės "Sūduva").
Forwards: Darius Kazubovičius (NFA - Vilnius), Simonas Stankevičius ("Leicester City", England), Donatas Kazlauskas (VMFD "Žalgiris").
Composition of the U-17 national team for the Baltic Cup:
Goalkeepers: Deividas Šalaševičius (NFA - Vilnius), Edvinas Gertmonas (NFA - Šilalė)
Defenders: Ernestas Pečiulis (NFA - Kėdainiai), Laimonas Jurevičius (NFA - Kaunas), Rimvydas Sadauskas (NFA - Kaunas), Benas Spietinis (Jonavos FM), Martynas Zaleckis (NFA - Kaunas), Lukas Pupšys (NFA - Telšiai), Justas Adamas (Klaipėdos FM).
Midfielders: Tomas Keršulis (NFA - Kaunas), Domantas Šimkus (NFA - Šiauliai), Ainas Bareikis (Kauno FM), Daniel Romanovskij (Vilniaus FM), Edvinas Puzara (Marijampolės FM), Tomas Dombrauskis ("Leicester City", England), Skirmantas Rakauskas (NFA-Klaipėda).
Forwards: Artur Skuratovič (Vilniaus FM), Donatas Šėgžda (NFA - Radviliškis).
