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Continuing the ranking of Lithuanian national team players on EuroFootball.com, this time they tried to evaluate the performance of the Lithuanian national team in the match against France on a scale of 1 to 10.
Lithuanian national team - 8
In a fierce match, the Lithuanian national team tried for a long time not to give in to the famous opponent as much as possible, and successfully did so for over an hour, but the only unsuccessful episode prevented them from achieving a draw.
Starting lineup
Žydrūnas Karčemarskas - 6.5 (In the middle of the first half, he stopped a shot from Nicolas Anelka, reliably caught other weak French attempts, but could have played more successfully in the conceded goal.)
Gediminas Paulauskas - 5.5 (In the first part of the match, he constantly couldn't keep up with the opponent's defenders in his area and almost all French attacks were on his side, but improved slightly after the break.)
Andrius Skerla - 7 (Did not give N. Anelka space in the penalty area and played without serious mistakes.)
Tomas Žvirgždauskas - 7 (Eliminated dangers in time during a couple of sharp French attacks and also practically did not make mistakes.)
Arūnas Klimavičius - 6.5 (Although a debutant in official national team matches, he occasionally made mistakes due to lack of experience and risked being taken off the field, he performed well in an unfamiliar position giving more freedom to Marius Stankevičius in attacks.)
Igoris Morinas - 6 (One of the veterans of the national team did not spoil the game and even had one opportunity to score, but his lack of speed sometimes hindered Lithuania's team from seeing faster attacks.)
Deividas Šemberas - 8 (After a long break in an official match for the national team, this versatile player returned impressively and on the field, correctly replacing the retired Aidas Preikšaitis with his assured and calm style, he was one of the team leaders in organizing the game.)
Mantas Savėnas - 6.5 (Was not very noticeable, held the ball too little and lacked long-range shots, but was useful in set-piece situations.)
Marius Stankevičius - 8.5 (Moved to the right-back position, he was arguably the most noticeable player in the national team and constantly caused problems for Eric Abidal on the right attacking side - after his passes, the Lithuanian team created their best chances.)
Tomas Danilevičius - 6.5 (Was not very noticeable, but was closely watched by the French and often had to retreat deep into the field and do more dirty work.)
Robertas Poškus - 6.5 (As usual, played the role of "holding the opponent's defenders in tension" and only a superb block by Willy Sagnol prevented a potential goal at the end of the first half. However, lack of practice hindered him from playing more successfully and he was less visible to the French in the second half while attacking more.)
Substitutes
(77') Mindaugas Kalonas - 6 (Could not bring greater improvement to the team's game.)
(82') Ričardas Beniušis - 6 (Did not do anything significant in the last ten minutes.)
(87') Tomas Radzinevičius - 6 (Joined the game well, but lacked more time to do more.)
Head coach
Algimantas Liubinskas - 7.5 (Had perhaps the poorest selection of players from all four qualifying matches and also a large part of the team with not the best form, so many decisions were forced. However, from the available players, the coach managed to put together a team that played according to their abilities and seriously resisted the world vice-champions. Perhaps he could have made substitutions earlier, but chose not to change a team that was performing well.)
This was a subjective assessment by EuroFootball.com. We would like to hear your opinion.
We suggest rating the players on the following scale:
10: Fantastic - Absolutely unique, perfect performance.
9: Excellent - Top-class play, worthy of the title of best player of the match.
8: Very good - Played impressively and reliably.
7: Good - Played well and hardly made mistakes.
6: Average - Initial rating. Did not make mistakes, but also did nothing exceptional.
5: Poorly - Made mistakes and played not very successfully.
4 and below: Bad - Made many mistakes and deserves criticism.
