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Although, as expected, after losing 2-1 to Scotland in the qualifications for the 2008 European Championship, criticism was poured on the Lithuanian national team and "big fans" and "experts" stated that "it had to be like that" and "didn't I say so", we forget that we lost to a stronger opponent in a competitive match.
In my opinion, there are three reasons for the loss:
Fatigue. Fatigue, fatigue, and fatigue once again. Although many react skeptically to such justification by the national team ("what, aren't they professionals?"), they probably forget that nature played a role as well. Remember that the Lithuanian national team, returning from Naples, could not land at Vilnius airport due to fog, so they had to spend five hours in Warsaw. Let's not forget that during this time, the Scots at home had training sessions resembling games with the Faroe Islands, which they easily won 6-0. While Lithuanians were fighting for every centimeter of the pitch against the World Champions in front of 60,000 spectators in Naples, the Scots could change the pace of the game and playing style whenever they wanted and enjoyed massive support from fans.
Lack of support. The Scottish national team felt at home in Kaunas. In the modest S.Dariaus and S.Girėno stadium in Kaunas, visually more than half of the spectators were Scottish fans. Additionally, these fans almost unanimously supported the team and sang songs praising Scotland, encouraging their players or booing the referee. Meanwhile, Lithuanians, even though there were empty seats reserved for them, mostly limited themselves to scattered applause. The clear difference was visible even before the start of the match, when more than 3,000 Scots unitedly sang the Scottish national anthem, while the Lithuanian anthem was heard louder only from the "ultras" section. However, this is more a matter of national pride than football.
Poor field. The unique "weapon" of the Lithuanians turned against them. If the poor field of the Žalgiris stadium helped us against technical Spaniards or the grass of the S.Dariaus and S.Girėno stadium in games against Italians, it seemed to harm Lithuanians the most in the match with the Scots. Due to the bad pitch, they were forced to play a "British" style game - the main and most dangerous weapon of the Scottish national team. At the beginning of the match, trying to play quick short passes, Lithuanians usually struggled with the ball bouncing in all directions due to unevenness on the field, so they started resorting to long and high passes. However, as it later turned out, the Scots felt much stronger in the air than the Lithuanians, and both goals scored against Lithuania came after the poor performance of our footballers with their heads. All we can do is accept that we will have to play on such a field against Italians and French, for whom this style of play will likely not be favorable.
It is worth mentioning that on Wednesday, Lithuania appeared on the field as favorites - the Scottish national coach somewhat surprised by fielding a more defensive lineup. It seems that the Lithuanians were intimidated by the surprising draws of the opportunity with Italy. For this reason, on the field, we saw a somewhat unusual scene - Lithuanians tried to break through to the Scottish goal with positional attacks, held onto the ball longer, while the opponents used our own main weapon - counterattacks. Unaccustomed to this style of play, our national team's defense often had problems dealing with the fast opponents who ran for the "high" ball.
For a small country like Lithuania, it is more important to evaluate not the result, but the game itself. We should be happy that even though our team suffered a tough loss, they often looked superior to the opponents, attacked more, and held onto the ball longer.
It is doubtful whether the head coach, Algimantas Liubinskas, can be blamed for the loss. His actions and vision were greatly restricted by the lack of arsenal - even midfielder Deividas Česnauskis was on the bench due to severe illness, as the coach later mentioned that he would have been "killed" if he had to take the field.
However, A. Liubinskas deserves praise for keeping his promise to fight in every match. The national team is indeed showing a more attractive game for Lithuanian eyes in the early matches of this qualification cycle than a few years ago. Ironically, the national team looked better in Wednesday's duel than three years ago when they narrowly defeated the Scots in the same stadium. A. Liubinskas also talked about this after the match.
Most importantly, we hope that the fans do not turn away from the team that experienced defeat, as they now need support more than after the match with the Italians. Let's respect our team for progressing, demonstrating a more pleasant game, and trying to attack more. The results will come with time.
However, on Wednesday, the national team did not deserve to lose.
