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This year, the Lithuanian national team, which is no longer participating in the 2008 European Championship qualifying matches, is preparing for friendly matches against the local representative team in Malta on November 15. The friendly match, like the previous matches against Albania and Kuwait, will be broadcast live on "5 kanalas". The match will start at 14:00 local time. On Thursday, head coach of the Lithuanian national team Algimantas Liubinskas announced an expanded list of players who are included in the preparation camp. The announced lineup consists of an equal number of foreign players and those playing in Lithuania. It is likely that the invitation to test other goalkeepers was not extended to Žydrūnas Karčemarskas, who plays for Moscow's "Dinamo" main team, and in his place Saulius Klevinskas from "Sūduva," who made his debut in the match against Kuwait, as well as Mindaugas Malinauskas from "Kaunas," who missed the end of the season due to injury, and Paulius Grybauskas from "Ekranas," who has not played in any matches for the national team so far. In the defense line of the team, after a long break, Deividas Šemberas from Moscow's "CSKA" will be able to play again, as he did not play for the team this year due to a three-match disqualification from the previous qualifying cycle. The legionnaires Vidas Alunderis and Marius Žaliūkas, as well as Arūnas Klimavičius from "Ekranas" and Nerijus Barasa from "Hearts," who recently recovered from an injury, were not invited to the team for the friendly match with Kuwait. Among the regular members of the team, only Mantas Savėnas is missing, who ended the season with Panevėžys "Ekranas" despite injuries. Among the forwards, there is again the Vilnius team's attacking leader Aivaras Laurišas, as well as Edgaras Jankauskas, who has not played for the national team yet this year, and Tomas Radzinevičius, who has not played in any official matches. However, Roberto Poškaus, who was loaned out to "Dinamo" club in the Russian championship in recent months due to injury, will not be in the list. Also, two players who demonstrated good performance in their clubs but had problems in the national team earlier, will not be invited to the team for the friendly matches - "Saturn" goalkeeper Edgaras Česnauskis publicly declared his unwillingness to play for Algimantas Liubinskas' Lithuanian national team once his five-match disqualification expires, and current "Hearts" forward Andrius Velička, who violated discipline two years ago before the match with Spain. Lithuanian national team preliminary squad for friendly matches against Malta Goalkeepers: 1. Saulius Klevinskas ("Sūduva" Marijampolė) 2. Mindaugas Malinauskas ("Kaunas") 3. Paulius Grybauskas ("Ekranas" Panevėžys) Defenders: 4. Marius Stankevičius ("Brescia," Italy) 5. Andrius Skerla ("Tom" Tomsk, Russia) 6. Rolandas Džiaukštas ("Saturn" Ramenskoye, Russia) 7. Irmantas Zelmikas ("Tavria" Simferopol, Ukraine) 8. Gediminas Paulauskas ("Ekranas" Panevėžys) 9. Darius Žutautas ("Atlantas" Klaipėda) 10. Deividas Šemberas ("CSKA" Moscow, Russia) Midfielders: 11. Saulius Mikoliūnas ("Hearts" Edinburgh, Scotland) 12. Mindaugas Kalonas ("Metalurgs" Liepāja, Latvia) 13. Darius Miceika ("Metalurgs" Liepāja, Latvia) 14. Deividas Česnauskis ("Hearts" Edinburgh, Scotland) 15. Andrius Gedgaudas ("Atlantas" Klaipėda) 16. Linas Pilibaitis ("Kaunas") 17. Vitalijus Kavaliauskas ("Ekranas" Panevėžys) 18. Igoris Morinas ("Žalgiris" Vilnius) 19. Aidas Preikšaitis ("Vėtra" Vilnius) Forwards: 20. Aivaras Laurišas ("Vilnius") 21. Edgaras Jankauskas ("Hearts" Edinburgh, Scotland) 22. Tomas Danilevičius ("Livorno," Italy) 23. Tomas Radzinevičius ("Kladno," Czech Republic) 24. Ričardas Beniušis ("Kaunas")
