© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, the II round matches start in the Lithuanian football A League - the 10th round matches will take place in the country's stadiums. The Vilnius derby between "Vėtra" and "Vilnius" attracts the most attention, as well as the matches between "Ekrano" and "Šiauliai" and "Žalgiris" and "Atlantas". The champions "Kaunas" will host the outsider "Interas", and "Sūduva" will play in Šilutė.
In the first round match in Vilnius, the "Žalgiris", who stumbled for the first time in the previous round, and the "Atlantas", who have not found their game this year and have only collected 5 points, will play.
However, speaking to the newspaper "Vakarų ekspresas", the coach of the Klaipėda team Vacys Lekevičius doesn't give up: "I don't know why, but we play better in away matches than at home. In the first round, we only collected five points. Not much. Let's hope we will improve and play better in the next rounds".
There are injuries in the ranks of Žalgiris. According to the team's coach Arminas Narbekovas, Aleksejus Dubina, who suffered a leg injury in the match against "Vėtra" a few weeks ago, still won't be able to play. However, the Belarusian is already participating in the team's training sessions. Defender Virmantas Lemežis is also recovering from an injury. Meanwhile, in the match against "Vilnius", defender Bertrandas Ngapounou, who was replaced due to a facial injury, will be ready to face "Atlantas". Good news for Žalgiris fans is that after being disqualified for yellow cards, forward Nikolajus Misiukas, who has scored 3 goals this season, will be able to play. The first round match in Klaipėda was won by the Vilnius team 2-1.
In the championship start, which was among the leaders but now has dropped to 6th place, "Sūduva" will seek a second victory against "Šilutė" as guests. The first match was won by the residents of Marijampolė 4-1. Sūduva will probably not be helped by forward Ottavio Braga, who has a renewed thigh injury.
"Ekrano" will host "Šiauliai" at home for the second time (the first match was won 2-0 by Panevėžys). These matches were supposed to take place in Šiauliai, but due to the sports games taking place in Panevėžys over the weekend, they were rescheduled to Panevėžys.
"Ekranas", who had a difficult start to the championship, is gradually finding their form - the team scored 7 points in the last 3 matches, and the much-criticized captain Mantas Savėnas scored 4 goals in the last 2 matches.
On the other hand, there are significant changes in the ranks of Šiauliai. Head coach Darius Magdišauskas had to leave for Sweden for two weeks due to family circumstances, and he will be replaced by assistant coach Rytis Tavoras.
In Panevėžys, defender Davidas Arlauskis, who received a red card in the match against "Vėtra", will not be able to play, and there are doubts about the injured defender Vaidas Šilėnas' ability to play.
"We know that the "Ekranas" club is not satisfied with neither the number of points nor the position they are in. But we certainly do not promise to give up, we need points, and we need them against "Šiauliai," said R. Tavoras to the club's website.
The current champions "Kaunas" will host the outsider "Interas" at home. The Visaginas team has recently fallen into a rut, losing 4 matches in a row and conceding a total of 18 goals. So it will be very difficult for Ivano Švabovičiaus' players to at least repeat their achievement in the 1st round, when they only won 3-2.
In the "Kaunas" team, fans will once again be delighted by forward Ričardas Beniušis, who has already scored 10 goals, missing the match against "Šilutė" due to a red card. In that match, after a long break, defender Darius Sanajevas, who had recovered from a serious injury, returned to the field for the Kaunas team, and the young Mantas Fridrikas, who substituted him, played successfully and scored a goal.
After the first round of the A League, the champions are in 2nd place, and the club's director Romualdas Kontrimas told the club's website that he is not satisfied with that: "The results are not good, as we have already lost eight points. We hope that we will score more points in the second round, as there is no room for mistakes. Our goal is only first place."
In the last matches of the 10th round, two capital teams - "Vėtra" and "Vilnius" will face each other. These matches will be directly broadcast on the "5 kanalas" television.
First of all, it is noticeable that "Vėtra" has lost many players due to injuries and is left without two goalkeepers. In the match against "Šiauliai," the main goalkeeper Vaidotas Žutautas suffered a serious injury, with his knee ligaments ruptured, and his replacement Povilas Valinčius received a red card. Another goalkeeper Arvydas Kacinkevičius, who was recovering from an injury in the previous round, will be able to play against "Vilnius." Also, five other "Vėtra" players are injured - Marijanas Budimiras (thigh muscle injury), Almiras Sulejmanovičius (stretched cruciate ligaments), Dejanas Milošeskis (recovered muscle injury), Bobis Božinovskis (foot fracture), and Darvydas Šernas (broken arm).
There are no serious losses in the ranks of "Vilnius" so far. The coach of the A League leaders, Antanas Vingilys, is only worried that the team lacks experience in crucial moments of the matches.
The first match between these teams in the 1st round ended in a draw.
10th round matches:
- Vilnius, 15:00. Referee - D.Kančelskis
- Šilutė, 17:30. Referee - E.Gaigalas
- Panevėžys, 17:30. Referee - G.Mažeika
- Kaunas, 18:30. Referee - S.Atmanavičius
- Vilnius, 19:00. Referee - A.Žuta
