Match №27

The match № 27, final round, matches for 5-8 places

January 26th, 2012, Saint-Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 100 spectators

Lithuania – Kazakhstan 0:0, pen. 5:3

Referee: Shadyhanov, Petrosian, Bogdanov

Lithuania: Simaitis, Jarmalavichius, Miskinis, Pilypas, Urbaitis (Snapkauskas, 85), Juozaitis, Brokas (Nakrosius, 81), Zhulpa (c), Beneta (Urbyalis, 53), Paulius, Novikovas

Head coach: Vitaliyus Stankevichius

Kazakhstan: Tkachuk, Akhmetov (c), Kuat, Tagybergen (Shomko, 75), Levin, Shetkin, Kunov, Beisebekov, Goryachiy, Lisenkov, Jolchiev (Khighnichenko, 62)

Head coach: Slobodan Krchmarevich

Series of penalty: Zhulpa (1:0), Beisebekov (1:1), Jarmalavichius (2:1), Shetkin (2:2), Simaitis (3:2), Khighnichenko (3:2, goalkeeper), Juozaitis (4:2), Goryachiy (4:3), Novikovas (5:3)

Best players: Paulius, Beisebekov

Comments

Head coach of Lithuania team Vitaliyus Stankevichius:

– I can say about both teams: everybody is tired and the schedule of games is tight, the boys are young, their organism grows and needs more time to recover. Lots of childish mistakes are the result of weariness. Novikovas has been playing today (Note – previous games the player missed because of being sent off). He is the team leader, but in this game he showed too much of initiative. I asked him to play jockeying, to gather around him 2-3 people and give free passes, but he tried to play single. All in all, we should be realistic. So, I admit, today we played a draw in order to try his luck in series of penalty. I am very pleased that we managed to move up in the tournament list. And now the main thing is not to have a match against Iran!

Head coach of Kazakhstan team Slobodan Krchmarevich:

– Today I'm satisfied with everything: our opponent, referee and our play. We were cautious. Still, this is a round play-off and even any mistake can be fatal. I think we were a little more active at the pitch, rather than our opponent, but we didn't have enough skill to complete elementary attacks. Some of our players were injured and just couldn't play in this match. Penalty is always a lottery, you never know who wins. By the way, in Kazakhstan everybody is discussing our previous match and mistakes of referee. I've heard that our Football Federation wrote a letter to the FUR complaining to referee. We can not change the result but we should correct our mistakes. Especially because we are friends! In the end I'd like to say thanks for inviting me to play a match among coaches and the stuff. I would certainly come!