Match №3

The match № 3, group B, first tournament day

LITHUANIA – St. PETERSBURG 0:2 (0:1)

January 24th, 2014, St. Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 500 spectators

Referees: Denis Shpilyov, Nikolay Eryomin, Andrey Bolotenkov

Lithuania: Plukas, Raziunas, Pangonis, Stankevichius, Armanavichius (Krasnovskis, 60), Girdvainis (c), Petravicius, Narbutas (Gedminas, 60), Upstas (Salamanavichus, 74), Norvilas (Baniulis, 83), Vilkaitis

Head coach: Arminas Norbekovas

St. Petersburg: Sizko, Deyneko, Ivanov V. (Pankov, 89), Umarov (Krivulkin, 77), Kayukov (c), Efimov (Lyisenkov, 72), Panfilov (Bogayev, 64), Ivanov A., Tundenkov, Guschin, Zakarlyuka (Zolotarenko, 56)

Head coach: Boris Rapoport

Goals: Umarov (14), Bogayev (90)

Yellow cards: Norvilas (6), Deyneko (41), Armanavichius (56), Plukas (64), Raziunas (66), Efimov (69), Kayukov (76)

Best players: Aurimas Vilkaitis, Rizvan Umarov

 

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After match comments

Head coach of the team Lithuania Arminas Norbekovas:

– First I want to thank the team of St. Petersburg for the game and to congratulate them with the victory! We started well, and I generally think we performed quite well during the match. We created many moments, fought, tried, but the Fortune was on the opponent's side. You can say they had "one kick and two goals". Such things happen in football. I have nothing to blame my players for.

– Today your team has shown a really sharp attacking football, despite that you were playing against the home team. Was there such an instruction before the match?

– Every team wants to play attacking football. We are not the exclusion. Another thing is how we manage it. Technics and speed are what is appreciated today in the world. If a player has such skills he will be able to fall back to the defense to mend an error in the attack. And we do have such players. Stankevichius, for example. You see, we had some problems with assembling the squad for the tournament because our clubs have already started training for the season. So our today's team Lithuania is composed mostly of the first league clubs: they are easier to summon.

Head coach of the team St. Petersburg Boris Rapoport:

– Our aim on this tournament, and in general, is to teach young football players how to play "the right football". Today we made several big mistakes, to my mind, especially in defense. Herein, we have two coordinated central defenders. But today they made so many mistakes. I must say, there was a big luck for us. The opponent didn't use these chances. But I'm not disappointed. They are 20-21 years old. We have lack of defenders in our country. Look, when Ignashevich and brothers Berezutskis will retired, who will play in defense? So, we give them practice.

– On Valentin Granatkin Memorial your colleague Vladimir Kazachyonok spoke about specific St. Petersburg style. Do you agree with him?

– I didn't hear that press conference, and do not know exactly what he meant. Specific of St.Petersburg style is control of the ball and speed. We want to instill it to our players. But FC Zenit nowadays has quite a different style, the lineup of the team is made of European football stars.

– Can you say that this tournament is educational for you?

– For sure. This tournament and Valentin Granatkin Memorial are educational. We try to get the best moments from each participant. Do you know who made the biggest surprise for me for the last time? U-17 national team of Japan. We have recordings of their matches. Frankly speaking we study on it. It is really simple and brilliant.

– In continuation of your speech. How did you prepare for this tournament?

– I'm really happy that we received invitation for Commonwealth Cup. During preparation period we had 3 trainings and 1 friendly game with Dynamo (St. Petersburg).