On the last day of January, the "Kaunas Žalgiris" football team returned to Lithuania from a preparation camp in Cyprus, where they will continue to prepare for the upcoming season in Lithuania.
The ten-day camp in Limassol city provided the team with excellent living and training conditions, as well as three friendly matches against opponents of various levels.
The team's head coach, Rokas Garastas, spoke to Žalgiris.lt about the camp in Cyprus, the friendly matches, and the players who participated in the trial.
"During the camp, we were able to observe the players, their form, and capabilities. In addition to all these things, we also had plenty of friendly matches, where we could bring our game closer to what we want to demonstrate. It is important that the players are always together in such camps, and the work process is somewhat accelerated. Matches, training sessions, analysis, more meetings, individual conversations - everything in one place. These kinds of events bring the team together and challenge them, but at the same time they also give a lot. We saw a lot of good things," said the 31-year-old strategist.
In Cyprus, the Žalgiris team first defeated Oroklini's "Alki" team 3:1, then achieved the same result against a more reserve team from Belgrade's "Čukarički" team, and in the last match lost 0:2 to "Rakow" club from Čenstochowa.
"The most serious were the last matches with the team from 'Rakow.' We knew beforehand that they are a very well-balanced team, strengthened and maintaining their nucleus, the coaches have also been working for a long time, so even analyzing their game was very interesting and it was evident that the team is well prepared and played. Playing with such a team in the early minutes of the match, I felt pleasure, because there was a good competition on the field, players got what they needed - the level of play and intensity of the Europa League qualifications," evaluated the "Kaunas Žalgiris" coach. - For the opponents, this was also a good test, as they have important matches in the Polish league in a week. It felt very much that they are already at that stage of preparation when they are very close to their best sporting form, and we were not the freshest, as we were carrying out our tasks throughout the camp. The men took up the challenge and in some cases even exceeded expectations. Undoubtedly, these matches were the most informative."
After the camp in Cyprus, it was decided to part ways with the players who participated in the trial: German Fabio Leutenecker, Ukrainian Yevhen Smirnov, and Colombian Vincente Mena.
"We tried out the players who participated in the trial, but they were not what we were looking for. The candidates were serious enough, their level was satisfactory, but at the moment we are looking for a different type of players. We will continue our search until we find suitable players for ourselves," assured R. Garastas.
In February, the "Kaunas Žalgiris" team plans to play four more friendly matches, which will help them prepare for the upcoming season's battles.
