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Preparing for the upcoming season in Turkey, Vilnius met Ukrainian club Odesa's "Chernomorets" in their second friendly match and, according to the official club website, the match ended in a peaceful 0-0 draw.
Composition of "Vėtra": V.Žutautas; A.Jankauskas, Budimir (46' Božinovski), Sasnauskas, Sulejmanovič; Raliukonis, Panka, Milošeski, Azizi (64' E.Juška), Severino, V.Stankevičius.
Compared to the previous match against Moscow's "Spartak" team, there were two changes in Vilnius club's starting lineup – Nerijus Sasnauskas replaced the injured Davit Čigladzė, and Maksutas Azizi entered the field instead of Bobi Božinovski.
"Vėtra" players started the match very actively and created several dangerous attacks at the beginning of the first half. In the 12th minute, after a precise pass from Vitalijus Stankevičius into the penalty area, Lima Severino had a chance to score, but the Brazilian missed and defenders cleared the ball away from the goal. In the 14th minute, V.Stankevičius himself took a dangerous shot from outside the penalty box, but the ball narrowly missed the goal.
The best chance for "Vėtra" to take the lead came in the 25th minute. The opponents tried an offside trap, but Vilnius managed to avoid it and several "Vėtra" players broke through towards the goalkeeper. However, M.Azizi's pass from the wing to the center was not accurate, and the "Chernomorets" goalkeeper anticipated the intentions and neutralized the danger.
After this moment, "Chernomorets" took the initiative and started attacking dangerously. The most dangerous moment near "Vėtra" goal came in the 43rd minute when a distant shot was saved by Vilnius side's crossbar.
In the second half, the game slowed down and mostly took place in the middle of the field. There were two notable attacks from "Vėtra": In the 70th minute, V.Stankevičius's shot narrowly missed the goal, and in the 76th minute, L.Severino failed to convert a great opportunity. After Dejan Milošeski's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, the ball bounced off to the Brazilian, but his close-range shot missed the target - the opponent's goalkeeper saved the day.
The match ended in a goalless 0-0 draw. On Saturday, "Vėtra" will conclude their friendly matches cycle in Turkey with a match against Moscow's "Dynamo", and a week later, on February 3, they will play a friendly match in Vilnius derby against the team "Vilnius".
"It was an interesting match – both teams attacked a lot, created beautiful moments and dangerous opportunities. In the first 25 minutes, we had a clear advantage, unfortunately, we couldn't convert it into a goal. Later, the initiative was taken by the opponents, and we needed to defend more – A.Jankauskas played reliably in defense as always, N.Sasnauskas had a good game, and M.Panka did a lot of work in the midfield. During the break, we managed to adjust our game, and the second half was a closely contested battle," commented the head coach of "Vėtra", Aleksandras Tarchanovas.
Asked how the first two friendly matches against "Spartak" and "Chernomorets" differed from each other, the coach responded: "These were two different matches. "Chernomorets" is a very mobile team, moving all over the field as a unit. "Spartak" was more set in certain frameworks – they tried to exploit counterattacks and put huge efforts into defense. Matches against opponents promoting different styles of play are very useful in the preparation stage."
