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The Lithuanian national football team failed to secure their first victory in the qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the match. In the second half, despite having a numerical advantage, the Lithuanians were forced to settle for a 1:1 draw. Defender Deividas Šemberas did not hide his disappointment with the result after the match.
"Playing at home, and even more so with more than half of the game with eleven against ten, we should have won. However, we couldn't control the flow of the game, we couldn't make 5, 7, 10 accurate passes, and create dangerous situations. I evaluate the match very poorly. In such games, you need to secure three points, and we only managed to get one," said the 34-year-old national team veteran.
The footballer did not hold back his criticism of the artificial turf at the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) stadium, on which the players stumbled multiple times.
"If all players are slipping, it's not a footwear problem. The issue is the pitch, which is not of the highest quality. It's the federation's problem because a pitch of this level is not suitable for high-level matches. It's a second or amateur league level pitch, not suitable for professionals. I know what I'm talking about, as I know on which synthetic pitches you need to play. Such a pitch is suitable for amateurs, for children, but not for professionals," D. Šemberas emphasized.
The footballer was not surprised by the performance of the Slovakian national team, he is convinced that the mood of the Lithuanian team determined the result.
"We knew how the Slovaks play, they are a good team with good players. We didn't put in enough effort to win this match, we needed to put in a lot more. Then we would have gotten three points. There was too little effort and weak ball control, that's what it all came down to," summarized the footballer.
