© EuroFootball.com
The Lithuanian national football team in a friendly match away from home, after a fierce battle, lost 0:1 to the team of Macedonia. The defense of both teams in this match exceeded the offense, but a rare mistake by our team at the beginning of the second half was well used by the opponents' star player, Goran Pandev.
The Lithuanians fought with heart (Photo by Reuters).
In the Lithuanian team in this match, four players played for the first time this year, and due to illness, one of the team leaders, Deividas Šemberas, started the match on the bench.
In the first half, both teams rarely managed to break through the opponent's defense. The Lithuanian national team threatened the opponents' goal after about 35 minutes, when the Macedonian goalkeeper had to deflect the ball after a penalty kick by Saulius Mikoliunas. Just before the break, Žydrūnas Karčemarskas kicked the ball out of danger to the sidelines.
At the start of the second half, the coaches made two substitutions - Giedrius Arlauskis and Deividas Česnauskis entered the field. In total, six players were substituted in the Lithuanian team.
The Lithuanians started the second half more actively, but the first sharper attack by the opponents ended in a goal.
In the 54th minute, after a precise pass, the striker Goran Pandev from the "Napoli" (Italy) club outran the defenders and scored with a cold-blooded shot into the goal defended by G. Arlauskis. After missing the goal, the Lithuanians constantly lurked around the opponents' goal, but lacked the final shot or pass, or the Macedonian defense acted accurately. Several times, their defense blocked crucial Lithuanian shots.
There were scuffles on the field (Photo by AP).
Perhaps the most dangerous was a long-range shot by D. Šemberas, who came on as a substitute, but he lacked accuracy. During one attack, the Macedonians had a second chance to score, but Ferhan Hasani, breaking into the penalty area from the side, shot wide.
These were the last friendly matches for Lithuania before the World Cup qualifying matches. Our team will start on September 7th with a match against Slovakia in Vilnius, at the LFF Stadium.
