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This Sunday, August 21st, the 12th international youth (up to 17 years old) football tournament "Lithuanian Football Federation Cup" begins in Palanga. This tournament, which will also take place in Kretinga and Klaipėda, will see teams from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine competing alongside our national team. The LFF Cup tournament is a great opportunity to prepare for the upcoming UEFA U-17 European Championship qualifying matches. The U-17 European Championship takes place every year. For young players, this is a great opportunity to experience the atmosphere of important international matches. Until 2000, these competitions were called the U-16 Championship. Since the 2002/2003 season, eight teams have participated in the final. According to the head coach of the Lithuanian U-17 national team, Antanas Vingilys, the team started preparing for this tournament a week ago in a training camp in Palanga. The coach expressed regret for the injured players and did not dare to predict the team's chances in the tournament. "Watching the young football players during training, I noticed that the preparation of each of them is very different - some are physically stronger, others weaker. Several key players of the national team are injured - Pašin, Zabarauskas, Petkevičius. The injuries of these players are a significant loss for the team," said the coach. "This tournament will be of a very high level, as good and strong national teams will gather. I couldn't name one leader, I think both Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Georgian, Latvian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian youth are very strong competitors," said A.Vingilys. - "Fortune will play a big role in the matches, the game will show everything. I don't want to predict the result. Our goal is to achieve the best possible placement in this tournament." LFF Cup groups Group I 1. Lithuania 2. Ukraine 3. Belarus 4. Azerbaijan Group II 1. Latvia 2. Russia 3. Poland 4. Georgia Match Schedule: August 21st 11:30 Ukraine - Belarus (Kretinga) 16:00 Azerbaijan - Lithuania (Palanga) 18:00 Russia - Poland (Klaipėda) 18:00 Georgia - Latvia (Palanga) August 23rd 12:00 Poland - Georgia (Kretinga) 12:00 Latvia - Russia (Palanga) 18:00 Lithuania - Ukraine (Palanga) 18:00 Belarus - Azerbaijan (Kretinga) August 25th 12:00 Ukraine - Azerbaijan (Kretinga) 12:00 Latvia - Poland (Palanga) 18:00 Lithuania - Belarus (Palanga) 18:00 Russia - Georgia (Kretinga) August 26th 11:00 1st Group I - 4th Group II (Kretinga) 11:00 1st Group I - 3rd Group II (Palanga) 13:00 1st Group I - 2nd Group II (Palanga) 15:00 1st Group I - 1st Group II (Palanga) Composition of the Lithuanian U-17 national team Coaches: Antanas Vingilys - head coach Andrius Larčenka - coach Algirdas Sargantas - coach Players: 1. Vytautas Černiauskas 2. Armantas Vitkauskas 3. Linas Klimavičius 4. Marius Ambotas 5. Vitalijus Savickas 6. Jevgenij Moroz 7. Eimantas Šalaševičius 8. Tomas Pilačiauskas 9. Tadas Špukas 10. Edvinas Narijauskas 11. Vilius Zabarauskas 12. Viktor Pašin 13. Tadas Zimnickas 14. Eivinas Zagurskas 15. Deividas Matulevičius 16. Povilas Krasnovskis 17. Gediminas Paberžis 18. Mikas Kura 19. Algirdas Breikštas 20. Lukas Stankus 21. Tadas Eliošius 22. Marius Papšys 23. Kasparas Šakauskas
