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The Lithuanian national team secured their second consecutive victory in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, defeating the Latvian national team 2-0 on Friday in Vilnius. It was a successful debut match for coach Igoris Pankratjevas at the helm of the national team.
Lithuania earned 11 points in nine matches after a crucial victory in their group, ensuring at least a fourth place finish, ahead of Latvia by four points. Theoretically, our national team can rise to third place, but they must not only defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday but also hope that Slovakia will drop points in their remaining two matches.
The match started very successfully for our footballers - Fedoras Černych scored a goal in just 8 minutes after a corner kick. Feeling the game, the hosts did not allow the guests to take the initiative and controlled the ball for longer periods. Soon, Deividas Matulevičius had the opportunity to score, but his strike was not strong enough.
However, at the end of the first half, the Lithuanians had to clear the ball from their own goal, but the referee did not count the goal, as three Latvian footballers were offside.
In the second half, the Lithuanian national team continued to demonstrate a solid game, which was crowned by another goal in the 68th minute. Saulius Mikoliūnas finished off a precise attack with a shot.
Lithuania 2 - 0 Latvia 8' [1 - 0] F.Černych 68' [2 - 0] S.Mikoliūnas
Lithuania: G.Arlauskis; M.Žaliūkas, E.Vaitkūnas, T.Kijanskas, V.Borovskis; S.Mikoliūnas (78' G.Sirgėdas), K.Ivaškevičius, M.Panka, M.Kalonas, F.Černych (72' N.Valskis); D.Matulevičius (58' E.Razulis);
Latvia: A.Vanins; K.Gorkšs, v.Gabovs (73' A.Kovalovs), N.Bulvitis, V.Maksimenko; J.Laizans, A.Fertovs, A.Zjuzins, D.Rakels (66' I.Lukjanovs); V.Šabala, M.Verpakovskis (77' E.Višnakovs);
