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On Sunday, July 2nd, the 18th round matches of the Lithuanian "A Lyga" will be played. The central match of the round will take place in Kaunas, where "Kaunas" will host "Ekranas", in the Vilnius derby "Vėtra" will face "Žalgiris", "Vilnius" will play against "Atlantas", "Šilutė" will compete with "Nevėžis", and "Sūduva" will play against "Šiauliai".
Start: 16:00
In the first match of the round, "Vilnius" will face "Atlantas". The first match between these teams in Klaipėda ended in a goalless draw.
In this match, "Atlantas" will have to play without experienced defender Darius Žutautas, who signed a contract with the Ukrainian club "Tavria" from Simferopol.
In the table, "Atlantas" is currently 4 points behind "Ekranas" in second place, but having played 2 fewer matches. Today, the opponents of Panevėžys club will be the team from Kaunas.
"Vilnius" is in 6th place in the championship, having earned 21 points from 16 matches.
Start: 18:30
The match between the championship outsiders "Šilutė" and "Nevėžis" will take place. In the first match between these teams in Kaunas, Kėdainiai club achieved their only victory in the championship with a score of 2-1.
In this match, "Nevėžis" will now be led by Vitalijus Stankevičius. The experienced coach previously worked with Kėdainiai club in 2004-2005. This change in the club could be an additional incentive for "Nevėžis" players to fight for a victory.
In the table, these teams are next to each other: "Šilutė" is 9th (9 points from 16 matches), "Nevėžis" is last with 4 points from 17 matches.
Start: 18:30
In another neighborly match on the table, "Sūduva" will face "Šiauliai". The first match between these teams ended in a 2-1 victory for Šiauliai. It is worth mentioning that in the previous round, despite missing several key players, "Šiauliai" crushed the country's champions "Ekranas" 4-1. Meanwhile, "Sūduva" recognized the superiority of "Atlantas" with a 0-3 score.
Before this match, the Marijampolė club strengthened their team by inviting defender Nerijus Mačiulis, who represented "Šilutė" this season, and forward Aleksandras Abramenko, a member of the Latvia U-21 national team playing for Riga's "Skonto" club.
In the table, "Sūduva" is currently in 5th place (23 points), "Šiauliai" is one step higher (26 points), both teams have played 18 matches.
Start: 19:00
The central match of the round will take place in the temporary capital, where "Kaunas" will face "Ekranas". This match may not be very important in terms of the table standings, but it will be a significant meeting of the strongest Lithuanian teams in recent times. Furthermore, "Ekranas" has already surpassed Klaipeda's "Atlantas" in lost points, so for the Panevėžys team, points are necessary to compete for the second place.
Due to injuries, Givi Kvaracchelija will not be able to play for "Kaunas" in this match, and it is still unclear whether defender Irmantas Zelmikas, who left for a trial at Simferopol's "Tavria" club, will play.
"Ekranas" was defeated by "Šiauliai" in the previous round despite having a strong lineup, so now the Panevėžys footballers need to consider their rehabilitation in the eyes of their fans.
In the table, "Kaunas" is firmly in first place (52 points), "Ekranas" is currently second (32 points), both teams have played 18 matches.
Start: 19:00
In the final match of the round, two Vilnius teams, "Vėtra" and "Žalgiris", will meet. The first match between these clubs ended in a 1-1 draw.
Interestingly, the struggling "Žalgiris" team has not lost to the other Vilnius team this season and even managed to defeat "Vilnius" 3-0. However, with four defeats in the last four rounds, the optimism of the "Žalgiris" fans is low.
Furthermore, the biggest problem for the Vilnius club at the moment is injuries, preventing a whole group of "Žalgiris" players from playing: Marius Kazlauskas, Tadas Gražiūnas, Artūras Žekonis, Raimondas Vilėniškis, and Andžejus Maksimovičius.
Meanwhile, "Vėtra" has already finished their performance in the Intertoto Cup, and it ended very poorly - with three red cards and a 0-4 defeat in Ireland. Due to illnesses, food poisoning, and other reasons, seven key players were unable to help the team at that time.
In the table, the teams are side by side: "Vėtra" is 7th (18 points), "Žalgiris" is 8th (17 points), in addition, "Žalgiris" has played 3 more matches.
