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This is my first blog and in it I would like to review the football team of a small town, Pakruojis, which has a small football history, complicated present, and uncertain future. But even those who are not interested in the A league, football fans, know the Pakruojis' "Kruoja" club. Established in 2001, the club is not very famous, but it is a pride of the town of Pakruojis. The recent situation in Pakruojis over the past two seasons gave me thoughts to write a blog.
Rise
Just debuted in the A league in 2009, representing a very small but football-loving town, in a few seasons they managed to make incredible progress. In the first season in the A league, "Kruoja" finished eighth, the next year they finished seventh. And in the 2013 season, they achieved fourth place, which opened the doors to the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa League. But unfortunately, fate was not favorable to Pakruojis. In the first round, they faced the Minsk "Dinamo" club. The debut in the European tournament shocked and gave experience to the club, as until then, the Pakruojians had never played against such a high-class club, and at home (Siauliai stadium) they were defeated 0:3, away (Minsk) 0:5. But all this turned out to be beneficial for the club, as participating in European tournaments brings in substantial money from UEFA. Despite losing and not progressing to the next stage, the Pakruojians still made a lot of money and allowed the club to strengthen for the following years. And so it happened, in the 2014 season they finished second, which was a true dark horse of the A league. Led by players such as Ričardas Beniušis, Nerijus Mačiulis, Tautvydas Eliosius, Aivaras Bagočius, Roberto Veževičius. And the whole team was excellently organized by V.Čėburynas and A. Dambrauskas. The head coach from Kazakhstan composed a strong football, with the main goal being Ričardas Beniušis (Big Ben) who fought very well in the second division. A solidly built player was the top scorer for Pakruojis, scoring most of his goals with his head. Therefore, all set pieces, corners, crosses from the wing went to Ričardas. He was greatly supported by Nerijus Mačiulis, who performed very well in set pieces and corner kicks. This aggressive, strong style of play, well-prepared for high balls, bore fruit. Teams like Marijampolė's "Sūduva", Klaipėda's "Atlantas", and Trakai's "Trakai" were outplayed. Given the strength and budget of these teams, this is a good achievement for a club that has already entered the history books.
Decline
It all started in the 2015 A league season. After the 2014 season, the head coach from Kazakhstan resigned, his place was temporarily taken by Aidas Dambrauskas, who worked as an assistant coach. The club also lost Nerijus Mačiulis and Robertas Veževičius. These two players, it turns out, meant a lot to Pakruojis. A new coach, Rui Capela from Portugal, came to the club, but achieved nothing, simply did not meet expectations, and was fired after a few rounds. Everything was reflected in the start of this season when they faced Marijampolė's "Sūduva" in the first round, the game looked clumsy, unattractive to the eye, they couldn't control the ball, made childish mistakes, they simply were not the same team as before. Then a similar character to the previous coach took over, it was Divaldo Alves with Angolan-Portuguese citizenship, he was dishonorable and unfair in football. Bringing in players like Etuwe Prince Eboagwu, Felipe Alexandre Januario Gomes, Martins Maquemba, just created a "circus". At the beginning of the second round, in a match against Marijampolė's "Sūduva", they simply sold the game. The head coach sent his players out onto the field, placed his own goalkeeper, and everything could be seen, how they played. It was dishonorable, as high-class players could not catch the ball at their own goal, did not try to stop it, the goalkeeper did not try to save it, defenders let attackers receive the ball freely. After the match, the LFF Discipline Committee quickly reacted, "banning" the aforementioned players from any LFF competitions for life. The club fell into a deep pit from which it will be difficult to climb out. Investors will not want to invest money in an unreliable club, as well as sponsors. But there are unofficial rumors that investors from Hong Kong also contributed a lot to the unethical games, but these "rumors" are not official. They are just scammers targeting countries like Lithuania, offering the best they can, but it turns out they "wash" money and simply destroy the club... Examples like (Dainava, Banga, etc) But even with the arrival of coaches and players from Portugal or South America, they seem serious, knowing the role football plays there, but it turns out their price is cheap, and the benefits from them are like taking fresh goat milk. For example, Edelino IE, coming from Sporting playing midfield, is not the same as Nerijus Mačiulis, and this is the biggest problem now, the club cannot win eight games in a row and the situation is now very complicated and unclear how it will proceed, could the fate await them like "Dainava", "Ekrano" or "Vetra"? Just do not be tempted by cheap labor. But another important aspect is that in 2014 the club had no debts, paid salaries on time, only two clubs in the A League did that ("Žalgiris" and "Kruoja")
I created a brief insight, that was my first blog.
