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For your attention, we offer an interview with the president and head coach of Vilnius "Žalgiris" football club Arminas Narbekovas, published in the newspaper "Vakaro žinios" on Saturday. In the interview, one of the best football players in the country talks about "Žalgiris", the A league, and the Lithuanian national team.
- "Žalgiris" started the A League season impressively and is currently in second place. What contributed to such a good start for the club? - Good results are the result of very productive preparation for the season. All the players worked hard during training without sparing themselves, so now they can enjoy playing serious matches. Also, the composition of the team has not changed much since last season. We only added players whom we expected to make a big impact, and no one has disappointed us. For example, Edvinas Lukoševičius, playing as a defender, has already scored two goals in four matches.
- Before the season, the team set a goal to reach the top three. Perhaps now you are aiming to fight only for the first position? - Before the championship started, three teams declared that they would fight only for the title. But we do not engage in such discussions and focus on earning points to avoid relegation from the league (laughs). Speaking seriously, the goal remains the same - to make it to the top three.
- How do you manage to balance the roles of "Žalgiris" president and coach? - So far, everything is going great, just as I expected. I have excellent assistants - Mindaugas Čepas and Viačeslavas Mogilnas, with whom it is a pleasure to work. I would like to wish all teams the youthful and friendly atmosphere that prevails at "Žalgiris."
- Compared to last year, has the A League become stronger? - The championship is just gaining momentum, so it is difficult to assess its level at the moment. We will see who is who in a couple of months.
- How do you assess the fact that subsidiary teams of big clubs play in the A League? The likes of "Šilutė" are inseparable from FBK "Kaunas" or Visaginas "Inter" from "Vilnius"... - It's a nerve-wracking situation for other club managers. If the news reports that "Vilnius 1" played against "Vilnius 2" on the field, what does it look like? It is said that the ball is round, but we can bet a large sum that neither FBK "Kaunas" nor "Vilnius" will lose points in games against subsidiary teams, while other teams will slip up more than once. Take, for example, our "dry" draw in Šilutė: if we didn't score, it's our own fault, but the opponents were afraid to even cross the midfield, showing no effort. I think the league should have eight teams that strive to achieve something, not just take points away from others.
- "Žalgiris" also plays in the Baltic League. What impression have you formed about Latvian and Estonian clubs? - Looking at the training conditions that neighbors have, we Lithuanians are in the Stone Age. We don't have the same pitches, training bases that Latvians and Estonians have, and it's unclear when we will have them. With the absolutely indifferent attitude of the state towards football, there will be no progress. What can we say when the national team has nowhere to play...
- If we set aside emotions, we can analyze the performance of the Lithuanian national team against France and Ukraine more calmly. How do you evaluate the team coached by Algimantas Liubinskas? - What can we expect from a national team whose players sit on the bench or in the stands like fans in clubs? Sports without practice do not exist. The simplest example: after a year of benchwarming in the NBA, basketball player Arvydas Macijauskas returned. How did he look in the World Championship? It's the same with football players - we had a few opportunities in the match against France, but they remained opportunities. People with practice would have played completely differently in those situations.
- Players of various levels of skill from abroad have flooded the A League. Will this invasion of foreigners not lead to the demise of our local youth? - A legionnaire must be a personality, an example for the youth both on and off the field. I don't see the point in buying a bunch of not top-level foreigners just because they are foreigners, and neglecting our own children. However, on top of one legionnaire, the club must pay 10,000 to the Lithuanian Football Federation. This is a huge sum, a public stripping of clubs. Illogical decisions abound in our football.
