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After the 2008 European Championship qualifying match in Odessa, the head coach of the Lithuanian national team, Algimantas Liubinskas, was not inclined to be upset and regretted not being able to help the players, while the strategist of the Ukrainian national team, Oleg Blokhin, was pleased with the result but saw shortcomings in his players' game.
"We fought both with the French and here, in Ukraine. The team showed character, but lacks goals. Maybe we didn't disappoint the fans, but we lost points. Karčemarskas suffered a knee injury, but I am glad Grybauskas played well," said A. Liubinskas.
"In the future, we plan not to be upset, but to take points from other teams. The Ukrainian team is promising. The level of football in this country is very high, they can put together three strong national teams. Meanwhile, we can barely put together one. We really missed Jankauskas, Česnauskas, Mikoliūnas, and Barasa," regretted the Lithuanian national team coach.
Meanwhile, his colleague in the Ukrainian national team, Oleg Blokhin, was not satisfied with his attackers' performance and admitted that playing against Lithuania was not easy.
"I've been with the team for two days, can I teach them to attack in such a short time? I am happy with the three points we earned. The Lithuanians concede few goals in the qualifiers, so the match was difficult for us. In the first half, we didn't create any dangerous attacks at all," said O. Blokhin.
"I think we lacked speed. The Lithuanian game reminded me of the Georgian game we played last year. We played tonight for the result. In terms of capability, the Lithuanian team is not inferior to the Scots - a good, organized team. And we lack attackers... In the tournament table, we are following the plan for now. It is good for us to play in Odessa, but other cities would be upset if we only played here," said the Ukrainian strategist.
