© EuroFootball.com
Liepaja's "Metalurgs" defender Tomas Tamosauskas has been invited to join the Lithuanian national team for the 2008 European Championship qualifying match against France this Saturday - he will take the place of the injured Vitalijus Kavaliauskas.
According to the official website of the Lithuanian Football Federation, V. Kavaliauskas has suffered a foot injury and will not be able to help the team.
"He is currently injured. We cannot risk the player's physical condition before the Lithuanian championship starts, as he is currently the best striker for 'Ekranas'," said 'Ekranas' head coach Saulius Sirmelis to "Panevezys Voice" after the Baltic League match in Ventspils.
Instead, T. Tamosauskas will join the national team, despite initially being excluded from the extended squad due to poor performance at the club.
"T. Tamosauskas received a lot of criticism while playing for the 'Metalurgs' team (in the match against Tallinn's 'Levadia' on March 13th - ed.) both from his coach Benjamin Zelkevicius and from Arminas Narbekovas who was watching the game. Both experts concluded that he lacked will and effort while playing," said Lithuanian national team head coach Algimantas Liubinskas in a press conference on Friday.
However, the defender played more successfully in the Baltic League match against Vilnius's 'Zalgiris' on Saturday, and A. Liubinskas, taking into account V. Kavaliauskas's injury, gave T. Tamosauskas a new opportunity.
The Lithuanian national team is currently training in Palanga, preparing for the important matches until Wednesday. If weather conditions are satisfactory, the team will move their training to Kaunas on Thursday, where the match will take place on Saturday.
