© EuroFootball.com
On Tuesday and Wednesday, matches of the fifth round of the Lithuanian "A Lyga" championship will take place, with the difference that two of them will be played at a later time than usual, and one match will be televised.
Despite the cold weather and slightly deteriorating conditions for football, in order to attract more spectators to the stadiums on weekdays, two clubs participating in the championship decided to delay the home matches and play under artificial lighting.
The country's champions FBK Kaunas and the Vilnius club decided to take such action, as they have the option to use artificial lighting at the S. Darius and S. Girėnas sports center and the Žalgiris stadium. Meanwhile, Vilnius's Vėtra promises to install lighting at their stadium by the beginning of July.
Clubs like Panevėžys's Ekranas and Klaipėda's Atlantas, who do not have artificial lighting at their stadiums, will start their matches against Žalgiris and Nevėžis respectively at the usual time of 17:00. The team from Šilutė, which also does not have lighting at their stadium yet, will have to play against Šiauliai on Wednesday.
Starting at 17:00
Ekranas, who has had a great season start, will aim for their fifth consecutive victory. Žalgiris has performed decently so far, but struggled in tougher matches and had to concede defeat twice.
Ekranas, maintaining the core of their team, demonstrates successful teamwork, attack leader P. Lukšys plays effectively, while M.Savėnas and A.Kučis in defense continue to perform powerfully, and the defense plays reliably.
Meanwhile, strengthened and slightly renewed Žalgiris is still finding its game. Although attacking players manage to do their job decently - they have scored seven goals - their defense is weak, goalkeeper M.Malinauskas did not perform well, so he was already replaced by P.Leusas in the last matches.
Last season, Žalgiris unexpectedly defeated Ekranas at home, but the Panevėžys team retaliated in the away match with a 4-0 victory, and later won two more matches. In all four meetings between these teams, four goals were scored, so a goal-filled match can be expected today.
Starting at 17:00
Although Atlantas fans are not yet pleased with their team's performance, the Klaipėda club has already achieved three victories and shares second place with the Kaunas team. Debutant Nevėžis from Kėdainiai has already lost all four matches and is in a much worse position - having not earned a single point, this team is the absolute underdog of the league.
One of Atlantas's leaders this season is the experienced former Lithuanian national team forward R.Žvingilas, who has scored two decisive goals in the league matches. However, he failed to help his team avoid defeat against Šilutė.
These teams have already met in the quarterfinals of the LFF Cup tournament. Atlantas defeated the opponents in Klaipėda with a score of 6-1, while the away match ended in a draw. Even though the lineups have changed slightly, the Klaipėda team are the undeniable favorites for this match.
Starting at 18:30
An interesting match will take place at the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, where Kaunas will try to secure their third victory at home. The country's champions have twice defeated Šiauliai and Sūduva, and thrashed Šilutė away, but suffered an unexpected failure against Vilnius.
This time, the opponents for Kaunas seem stronger than before - although injury-hit, Vilnius's Vėtra is still quite a powerful team, currently having 2 wins and 2 losses.
Interestingly, Vėtra is now coached by Belarusian S.Borovskis, who was previously with the Kaunas team, while Kaunas is currently led by former Vilnius club strategist V.Ivanauskas. Both coaches know their opponents well.
However, Ivanauskas does not face the same problems when selecting his lineup as Borovskis, as Vėtra's forwards Š.Litvinas and N.Vasiliauskas are injured, E.Blažys is not recovering, leaving I.A.Douglas as the only option. In addition, goalkeeper R.Merkelis played unreliably and will likely be replaced by the young A.Kacinkevičius.
By the way, last year's matches between these teams in Vilnius were marked by scandal - with four minutes remaining and the score tied, Kaunas scored a questionable goal and Vėtra's goalkeeper M.Poškus was sent off the field for protesting. After the match, furious Vilnius coach V.Ivanauskas burst out with foul language towards the referee. Now the coach is on the other side of the barricade, but this should not diminish the intrigue.
Starting at 19:30, live broadcast on Tango TV
Ambitiously, Vilnius has already secured two victories and even managed to defeat Kaunas in one match, while Marijampolė's Sūduva did not meet expectations at the start of the season and only salvaged a victory against Šiauliai in the last minute of the fourth round.
Both teams boast a truly diverse legion of players, but so far Lithuanians have excelled the most - with Vilnius's M.Panka scoring three out of four goals, while the only goal for Sūduva was scored by D.Maciulevičius.
Last season, these clubs fought against each other for survival in the championship - although they each had one victory in the matches against each other, Marijampolė managed to surpass their opponents and remain in the league due to the league's expansion. The outcome of their match against the people of Suvalkija remains hard to predict.
Wednesday, starting at 19:30
Although Šilutė has only secured one victory in four matches and suffered three defeats, borrowing Kaunas players for the second season in a row, this coastal team is not an easy opponent, and currently holds a poor position in the tournament table only due to a tough schedule at the start of the season.
Debuting in the A Lyga, Šiauliai has not caused any major surprises in the championship so far, but despite not having famous players in the team, they have already earned four points and do not intend to be among the underdogs, so the match against their table neighbors from Šilutė is likely to be intense and evenly matched.
