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With the arrival of more spring-like weather in Lithuania, the NFKA "A Lyga" championship is gaining momentum. After the intriguing and somewhat surprising results of the first round held on Tuesday, the teams rested and will already compete in the second round on Saturday. The warm spring weather (with temperatures forecasted to reach 12-17°C in Lithuania on Saturday) can attract quite a few football fans to the stadiums, while those unable to attend the matches in person can watch the games live on "Tango TV" from Vilnius, where the teams "FC Vilnius" and FBK "Kaunas" will meet.
Vilnius - Vilnius
At 13:00, an exciting Vilnius derby will take place at the Vetra Stadium. In the last round, "Vetra" narrowly defeated Kėdainiai "Nevėžis" in Vilnius, while "Žalgiris" at home beat "Šilutė" 2-0. Although both teams secured victories against expected weaker opponents, the results do not fully reflect their true strength. In this match, "Vetra" will be without players such as Nerijus Vasiliauskas and Žydrūnas Grudzinskas, who underwent knee operations, Nerijus Sasnauskas and Šarūnas Litvinas due to injuries, and Andžėjus Sivinskij, who received a suspension for removing his shirt after scoring a goal in the match against "Nevėžis." However, fans can expect to see Arthur Steško, Edvinas Lukoševičius, Edvinas Blažys, and Darvydas Šernas on the field.
For the outsiders of the first round (defeated 5-1 to Panevėžys "Ekranas" as visitors), the match against the multiple-time Lithuanian champions will be a great opportunity to show that the loss in the first round was just a coincidence. Once again, it is important to mention that the match will be broadcast live on "Tango TV" at 16:00 on Saturday.
Panevėžys - Marijampolė
In this match, "Ekranas" started the season on a high note by defeating "Vilnius" 5-1 at home on Tuesday, while the Suvalkija club narrowly lost to "Atlantas" in the final minutes of the match in Klaipėda. The ambitious Marijampolė team, which played impressively before the season, is not likely to give up easily, so fans can expect a fierce battle in this match at 16:00 at the Panevėžys "Aukštaitija" Stadium.
Klaipėda
In the match between the clubs of the Baltic Sea, which will be held at the central stadium of Klaipėda due to the renovated Šilutė stadium, the favorite is clear. Although "Šilutė" suffered a 2-0 defeat to Vilnius "Žalgiris" as visitors in the first round, "Atlantas" achieved a minimal victory against the much stronger opponent Marijampolė "Sūduva." The match will start at 16:00.
Kėdainiai -
In this match, which will take place at the Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, the debutants of this season's "A Lyga," the fighter "Šiauliai" and the team of "Nevėžis," who lost 1-0 in the last minutes of the match against "Vetra" in the first round, will meet. The defeat of "Šiauliai" 5-1 in the first round was probably unexpected for many. The second coach of the Šiauliai team, Rytis Tavoras, stated that the loss to "Kaunas" was because of the appearance of two new players and the poor defensive play of some players. Similarly, the head coach of "Šiauliai," Vytas Jančiauskas, said about the first matches of the "A Lyga": "The mood after the first lost matches is not very good. However, in the match against FBK 'Kaunas,' despite conceding five goals, we tried to play entertaining football for the spectators. Perhaps not everything went the way we wanted. The championship is just beginning, and we already had to face Lithuania's football leaders three times in a row at the beginning. I think it would be a great challenge for other teams as well. The Kaunas team has a much longer bench, two players who did not play in the cup matches - T. Tamošauskas and the Georgian Givi Kvaratshkelia - changed the team's game style. The atmosphere of the stadium, the presence of spectators affected the players - most of them are not used to playing on such a large field. However, these were the worst matches we played this year.
Speaking about the match against "Nevėžis" on Saturday, V. Jančiauskas said: "We do not plan to change the team's tactics significantly before the game against Kėdainiai 'Nevėžis.' I told the players before the championship that our points come from good defensive play. Only by defending can we expect a positive result. Therefore, all players on the field must not forget their defensive duties. We know very little about the 'Nevėžis' team; we only saw them in the preparatory stage. Several newcomers joined the team. I also want to highlight that last year, in the LFF I League championship, the Kėdainiai team was the only one to beat 'Šiauliai' twice, and this also makes us seriously reflect on tomorrow's match."
In the match against "Nevėžis," the Šiauliai team will not have one of the most productive players of the last season of the LFF I Lyga, Gintaras Siciūnas, who suffered a left leg muscle injury in the quarterfinal match of the LFF Cup against "Kaunas" last week. He may be replaced on the field by striker Gediminas Butavičius. It is also possible that due to G. Siciūnas' injury, coach V. Jančiauskas will have to change the tactical scheme and play with one striker.
