© EuroFootball.com
On Tuesday, the Lithuanian national team continued training for the upcoming qualifiers for the 2008 European Championship, which will take place on September 2nd. The team's camp received some positive news following the death of Edgaras Jankauskas - forward Robertas Poškus is already training and, contrary to previous assumptions, may recover in time for the match against Italy on Saturday.
In the evening training session at Vilnius "Vėtra" stadium, the players seemed to be in good spirits, not hesitating to joke around with their teammates. However, head coach Algimantas Liubinskas was not satisfied with what he saw on the field: "So far, the players look 'heavy', their movement on the field is sluggish. They don't look good yet, but we still have time."
Throughout the entire training session, "Metalurgs" goalkeeper Darius Miceika watched from the stands.
"Miceika is injured, he needs a couple of days off because he injured his ankle badly," Liubinskas said. "He rode a bicycle today, tomorrow he'll walk. Whether he will play or not, it's unclear. We will have to leave out four players anyway."
Meanwhile, another national team "legionnaire," recently loaned to Moscow's "Dinamo" - Robertas Poškus trained individually and spent a significant part of the training session running around the stadium.
"The situation regarding Poškus is unclear. The chances that he will step onto the field against the Italians are 50-50," commented the coach.
The coach did not reveal which players would be left out for the youth team, which will play an important match on September 6th against the Serbian and Montenegrin national team to qualify for the European Championship.
"Everyone will travel to Italy because the youth team plays on the 6th. Then it will depend on Poškus. If he can't play, we might take Tadas Labukas, maybe Mindaugas Kalonas," Liubinskas said. "In any case, those who currently look the best will play for the national team."
The coach announced that in place of the injured Edgaras Jankauskas, "Krylja Sovetov" youth team forward Evaldas Raziulis was called up to the national team.
During the hour and a half training session, the players started with warm-ups, then divided into two teams, which could be called "starting" and "reserve," playing a game where the ball was passed by hand and headed.
Later, the ball was "dropped" onto the ground, and in short matches on a small area of the field, the team wearing yellow jerseys (the "reserve" team) performed better.
After these light-hearted matches, the players practiced running along the sidelines, observed the play of the fullbacks and players playing two against one. This tactical exercise was also performed in duets, which could be called "starting" and "reserve." Liubinskas tested the duo of R. Džiaukštas and D.Česnauskis on the left side and S.Mikoliūnas and M.Stankevičius on the right.
At the end of the training session, friendly matches were played. The "reserve" team won, with players like I.Zelmikas, D.Žutautas, G.Paulauskas, M.Kalonas, A.Gedgaudas, T.Tamošauskas, V.Kavaliauskas, P.Lukšys, T.Labukas (excluding goalkeeper M.Malinauskas). The "starting" team consisted of players like Ž.Karčemarskas, R.Džiaukštas, A.Skerla, T.Žvirgždauskas, M.Stankevičius, D.Česnauskis, A.Preikšaitis, M.Žaliūkas, M.Savėnas, S.Mikoliūnas, T.Danilevičius.
