© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, at 4 PM, on the Novi Sad - Belgrade road, a bus carrying the Lithuanian youth (up to 21 years old) football team got into an accident. The team's administrator Kazimieras Petronis, head coach assistant, FBK "Kaunas" head coach Igoris Pankratjevas, and five players representing "A League" clubs were injured in the accident.
The 21-year-old Vilnius "Vilnius" defender Andrejus Sokolovas suffered a back injury, but he did not go to the hospital because he received assistance on the spot. K. Petronis, I. Pankratjevas, 22-year-old Vilnius "Žalgiris" goalkeeper Mindaugas Malinauskas, 20-year-old "Kaunas" goalkeeper Šarūnas Kilijonas, 21-year-old defenders Darvydas Šernas (Vilnius "Vėtra") and Giedrius Tomkevičius (Panevėžys "Ekranas") had to be taken to the hospital. Lithuanians were released from the hospital after an hour and a half.
"Our bus was traveling at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. After traveling about 20 kilometers from Novi Sad, we collided with a "Ford Escort" car. The "Ford Escort" had been hit by another car before, causing it to veer into the opposite lane and crash into our bus. The football players suffered minor injuries, while three passengers in the car that collided with us died," said the Lithuanian national team head coach Vitalijus Stankevičius to the official "A League" website.
He said that before the accident, many of the boys were sleeping, so they did not have time to react. D. Šernas was the most seriously injured among the football players. Coach I. Pankratjevas needed a neck brace. V. Stankevičius, who was sitting in the front of the bus, avoided injuries, but the coach felt pain in his whole body. "I feel broken," he admitted.
For the injured football players' positions in Tuesday's match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, V. Stankevičius is forced to call other players. Instead of goalkeeper Mindaugas Malinauskas (who will be on the bench), Panevėžys "Ekranas"' player Paulius Grybauskas is called up.
Also called up are three more players - defender Donatas Navikas and defender Povilas Šarūnas from Klaipėda "Atlantas" and Marijampolė's "Sūduva-2" team player, defender Vaidas Slavickas, who has already scored 11 goals in the I League this season.
