© EuroFootball.com
On Thursday, the third day matches of the international friendly tournament "Palangos Juzės" were played in Palanga, which ended the group stage. All three Lithuanian clubs - the country's vice-champion FBK "Kaunas" and "Šiauliai" along with "Šilutė" that had already played their matches - secured their places in the tournament semifinals.
"Kaunas" faced the team "Tent" from Kaliningrad and won with a score of 3-1. The assistant coach of the team, Eugenijus Riabovas, informed the official website of the "A Lyga" that the goals for the winners were scored by defender Mindaugas Bagužis and the attacking duo - Ričardas Beniušis and Andrius Velička.
By the way, the team from Kaliningrad lost despite having a numerical advantage from the middle of the first half, as "Kaunas" legionnaire Nukri Manchkava was sent off the field for a scuffle.
In the other day's matches, "Šiauliai" crushed Liepaja "Metalurgs" reserves 5-0 and became the winners of their group, as the Šiauliai team and Kaliningrad "Baltika-2" team both collected 4 points each, but the better goal difference determined the first place for the Lithuanian club.
In the match against the Liepaja team, Šiauliai's legionnaires shined. Belarusian Viktoras Afanasenka scored two goals, Ukrainians Ilja Galiūza and Vadimas Tarasovas scored one each. The opponent's goalkeeper was beaten once by the most productive player from last season, Gediminas Butavičius of Šiauliai.
The Latvian team is represented by reserves in this tournament. The young players of the opponents were a bit tired after yesterday's matches, while our footballers didn't play yesterday. We easily defeated the "Metalurgs-2" team. We surpassed the opponents in skill and cunning," said Šiauliai's head coach Saulius Vertelis to alyga.lt website, who was a bit worried that the players wouldn't get injured. - "I allowed the younger players to play. No one got injured."
So, FBK "Kaunas", "Šilutė", "Šiauliai" and Kaliningrad "Baltika-2" advanced to the semifinals of the annual friendly tournament. In the semifinals on Friday, "Kaunas" will play against "Baltika-2" at 15:00, while "Šiauliai" will face "Šilutė" at 12:00. On Saturday, Kaliningrad "Tent" and Liepaja "Metalurgs-2" teams will compete for the fifth place, and the tournament will conclude on Sunday.
