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Last season, despite biting silver medalists FBK "Kaunas" and champions of Panevėžys "Ekrano" football players, who finished in ninth place, in the off-season they are strengthening and setting quite a modest goal - to perform better in the 2006 edition of NFKA "A Lygos" season than last year. After last season, defender Eduardas Tučinskis left the team, who moved to the "Vilnius" team after the contract expired, safety Markas Krukovskis, defender Darius Rukas. Experienced striker Egidijus Varnas, who joined "Šiauliai" in the middle of last season, returned to Panevėžys "Ekranas". Goalkeeper Audrius Paškevičius also left the team. After the latter left the team, there was only one goalkeeper left in the team - the young Giedrius Arlauskis. For this reason, "Šiauliai" would like to strengthen with a good goalkeeper before the start of the upcoming season, who would create competition for a place in the main team lineup. During the off-season, the Šiauliai team is strengthening its ranks: in the near future, the brothers Ilja and Sergėjus Galiūza from Ukraine are expected to join the team, who are currently dealing with work visa issues. Saulius Butkus, who became a bronze medalist with Marijampolės "Sūduva" last season, has also joined "Šiauliai". Before the start of the season, "Šiauliai" should also strengthen with a promising foreign striker and safety, and the evaluation currently includes 27-year-old forward Ramūnas Timinskas and 21-year-old left-back Vaidas Šilėnas. Having added safety Sergėjus and defender Ilja Galiūza to the team, club representatives joked that "Šiauliai" has become the "brotherly sharpshooters" team. "Šiauliai" has as many as four pairs of brothers in its ranks: Šidlauskus, Garuckus, Arlauskius, and the aforementioned Galiūzas. 24-year-old S.Galiūza (Serhyi Galyuza) and his two years older brother Ilja (Iilya Galyuza) have represented Odesa's "Chornomorets" (Ukraine), Lugansk's "Zorya" (Ukraine), Russia's First League club "Oriol" during their careers, and last season they represented Mogilev's "Dnepr-Transmash" club in Belarus. Before the start of the season, "Šiauliai" would like to strengthen not only the goalkeeper position but also the position of fullbacks. "We are looking for true professionals," commented club director Pranas Šidlauskas. The Šiauliai team will play a friendly match with Vilnius "Žalgiris" this Saturday at the "Sportima" arena in Vilnius, and then will travel to a ten-day training camp in Palanga, where they hope to test their strength against several Latvian clubs. Later, there is a preliminary agreement for friendly matches at the end of February with the "Jūrmala" team from Latvia. Asked about the team's strengths, club director P.Šidlauskas highlighted team spirit: "Common work, common goal, good team atmosphere - these are our strengths. God willing, we will be able to help the players develop their individual qualities, it would only be better, but our strength is team spirit." "Šiauliai" will wear a new uniform in the upcoming season - from now on they will be dressed by the "JAKO" company from Germany. It was this company that offered the best conditions to the Šiauliai club.
