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Portal EuroFootball.com continues the section "Ask a question..." and presents you with the second interview of this section - this time you had the opportunity to ask questions to the coach of the Lithuanian national football team and the head of the culture and sports department of the Vilnius municipality A. Liubinskas.
So, we present this interview with the respected coach.
- How do you evaluate the start of the 2006 World Cup qualification cycle?
- We could evaluate it very well if we had won against the Spanish. Overall, I think the game was good, the draw in Belgium, as well as the tasks performed in the match against Spain and two very important victories against San Marino.
- In your opinion, what are the reasons for the sluggish game of the Belgian national team in the group? Do you expect to play as successfully in the return matches against this team as you did this fall?
- I wouldn't say that the Belgian game can be called sluggish. In the first half in Spain, this team looked very good, and if not for the red card, who knows how it would have ended. And as for the match against Lithuania, the Belgians were immediately set on an easy victory, and when they saw that it wouldn't be so simple, they started to falter - this was also shown by captain Bart Goor's behavior when he tried to provoke the Lithuanians in various ways. I can give an example from Lithuania, when in the last round of matches "Ekranas" went onto the field not to play, but to try to resolve relationship issues, which led to their defeat.
- Why wasn't the goal set to win against San Marino by a larger margin? Are you sure that after the group stage, the goal difference won't matter?
- The main goal was to win, and if there was a chance to win by a larger goal difference. We knew very well that the matches would be really tough. We can remember how our neighbors from Latvia barely "escaped without a scratch" from San Marino, leveling the result already at the end of the match, or the Portuguese drawing with Liechtenstein. I could mention another problem. In these matches, we were lacking forwards, and our young players, like Tomas Radzinevicius, simply couldn't handle the pressure, which again makes us think about reviewing new forwards. I think players like Guscinas, Fomenko, and perhaps Luksys are worth paying attention to.
- What tactics will you follow in the away matches against Spain and Serbia? Will you play with three nominal forwards as at the beginning of the qualification cycle?
- Wherever we play, whether it's home or away matches, we never go to lose. Our goal is to achieve a positive result. The minimum task is a draw, the maximum, of course, a win. We will never play as before just to resist or lose by a narrow margin.
- In your opinion, are Serbia and Montenegro currently the main opponents for the 2nd place in the group?
- It's hard to say. I think the clear outsider in our group is San Marino. All other teams, in my opinion, are capable of taking both first and second places in the group. This includes the Spanish, Serbians, Bosnians, Belgians, and, of course, us.
- What are the goals set for the match against Bosnia away? Will the goal be 3 points, or will a draw be enough?
- In the only match against San Marino, I talked about the result - in all other matches, I said that the men go onto the field to fight. If we look at the world rankings of national teams, we could probably confidently assign last place to San Marino, and second to last to Lithuania and so on, but every game the Lithuanians go to prove that rankings are not everything and they do not reflect the real situation.
- Do you agree that A.Gedgaudas is currently the best football player playing in Lithuania? Which other player playing in the "A lyga" could you single out?
- Yes, I myself voted for A. Gedgaudas, because I look at everything from the perspective of a national team coach. I also chose D. Vencevicius, who I think is very underrated, and P. Luksys, as this player is the most effective in Lithuania and we will definitely try him in the national team.
- Which players playing in Lithuania do you consider the most promising?
- There is a huge gap between young players and those in the national team. It cannot be said that a player from the youth national team will immediately enter the national team and play in the starting lineup. We tried with M. Savenas, but last year after going to Malta, we saw that he looked lost. We had higher expectations from Kucio, but so far this player is not demonstrating what is expected of him. I am also interested in Sernas, Panka, Miceika, Mikuckis, if they stop making tactical mistakes, Malinauskas, Ivaskevicius, Tamoshus, but the latter player needs to mature as a person first, not be late for training, and live a disciplined life. Everyone mentions M. Kalonas, but this player needs not to mature, but to stop using mature drinks (laughs).
- What do you think about the mass selling of young players to Russia by the leaders of Lithuanian clubs? Do they stop improving in Russia?
- The problem is in which club they end up in. I see a big problem for Karchemarskas, Tamosauskas, E. Cesnauskas, who don't always get to play and often play for the reserves. But they have better training conditions, so everything depends on them. They themselves have to prove that they can play at a higher level.
- Do you think the national team lacks an attacking creative central midfielder, could you name a few players in this position that you might consider trying out? What do you think about Savenas?
- The problem is there, of course, but M. Savenas lacks power. He might be able to replace other national team members, but not much more for now. We will try to find ways to improve the game in this position.
- Will R. Zutautas return to the national team after recovering from injury?
- If he wants to play, he will definitely return. The doors of the national team are certainly not closed to him. The player himself must want to play. There was a problem earlier with A. Skarbalius, who did not express a desire to play for the national team, but later the player realized it, contacted me and expressed a desire to play. Again, I will reiterate that we will not force players to play. Some federations persuade players with large sums of money and bonuses, but we are unable to do so.
- Which players, in your opinion, did not fit well in the national team in this qualifying cycle? Do you plan to try out new players in the friendly matches with Georgia? If so, who?
- First, we need to see who we can select at that time. If everything goes well, we will try P. Luksys, A. Fomenko, maybe D. Guscinas, and we would also like to include Velicka in the national team, but he is severely lacking in discipline.
- When will the (reserve) national team of players playing in the "A lyga" be formed?
- It was created, V. Ivanauskas was supposed to be responsible for this team, but this idea faded, which is very unfortunate. I think again there was a lack of financial resources, as there should be matches with opponents, and a separate coaching team should work with them, I think a strong national football federation could easily implement such an idea.
- What is the most effective psychological impact tool for motivating the team for victory just before sending them onto the field?
- It could be said that there is a large set of these tools, and by using them all successfully, the team can be well prepared for battle. These are the secrets of every team's coaches and players, and it is probably clear that we have managed to do it.
- Are you interested in the new football achievements, the work of foreign coaches? What impresses you the most about foreign coaches?
- Of course, I am interested in the work of foreign coaches, where else can you gain experience. I have personally communicated with Capello, Sacchi, Trapattoni, Lobanovsky, and Morozov. Also, in terms of achievements, I am impressed by former 'Porto' coach Jose Mourinho because he shows results when given the conditions. We could also mention Alex Ferguson, who is a coach working according to his long-term program. We saw how the Manchester club went through a crisis and now is rising from it.
- How do you improve your qualifications and gain experience? How do you select players ready to represent the Lithuanian national team? Do you travel abroad and observe the play of our compatriots?
- What coach would not want to go abroad to gain experience, observe the work of other coaches, the play of players. Everything hinges on money, which is in short supply. Perhaps someday the situation will change.
- Who do you see as your successor in the national team coach position? Perhaps V. Ivanauskas?
- Of course, nothing is forever, just as my work in the national team is not forever, so in my opinion V. Ivanauskas would be a great coach, but I am still trying to teach him everything I know. I hope he will achieve even better results than me because if that didn't happen it would mean that I failed to pass on my knowledge to him.
- You are also the head of the sports department of the Vilnius municipality. What is the real situation regarding the construction of stadiums in Vilnius?
- First of all, the city council needs to approve the project, at the moment there is a lack of information from the owners of the "Zalgiris" stadium. The construction work can realistically start next year. As for the construction of a stadium near the "Akropolis", in my opinion, the construction will not start until 2007 at the earliest. Some say that there may be too many stadiums, but Vilnius is a modern, large city, and there can never be too many squares.
- For whom did you vote in the best world football player elections?
- I can say that I did not vote for any of the main three candidates. I am impressed by creating players, not players finishing attacks. Since I am a national team coach, I value players not just based on their performance in their country's championship but based on their performance in the national teams. In this case, judging by the performance in the European Championship. Therefore, I chose Czech P. Nedved, who plays just as well as in previous years, Portuguese L. Figo, who was the engine of his team, and Greek T. Zagorakis. I chose the latter only because Greece became the European champion.
- Do you think it would be possible to host the European Futsal Championship at the "Siemens" arena?
- This is a great idea, we have a good network of hotels, and for the city of Vilnius, it would be additional income, but this need to be discussed with the Lithuanian Football Federation, they should be the first to show initiative if such a thing were realistic. By the way, as far as I know, the LFF wants to propose hosting the qualifiers for junior national teams (U-17 and U-19) in Lithuania.
A.Liubinskas also mentioned after the interview that he always openly communicates with everyone interested and is ready to answer questions from Internet users by email, on the condition that the questioner must sign their full name.
