Lithuanian national team coach Csaba László revealed a squad of 22 players for the friendly against Macedonia on 15 August.
The coach from Hungary, who this year was appointed to lead the national team of Lithuania, decided to rely on experienced players for the upcoming friendly against Macedonia. The squad features two 34-year-old players in center back Deividas Šemberas of Russian side Alania and striker Tomas Danilevičius of Italian Serie B team Juve Stabia.
László had only one problem as he couldn’t rely on defender and star player Marius Stankevičius who is still struggling with an injury. The Lithuanian squad features 4 domestic players, but none come from the defending league champions and current table leaders Ekranas. That means that Yani Urdinov, who plays at Ekranas, won’t face any of his teammates.
“We chose to play Macedonia because they play a similar style to our future rivals in Slovakia and Greece. It will be a difficult game but I hope that we can achieve a positive result, and I’m not talking about a draw. We believe that we can score goals and win. Macedonia has players who are members of foreign clubs such as some of the powerful Italian, Belgian and German clubs. They are a team that manages the ball well and their tactics are influenced by the former Yugoslav football philosophy. But, their coach is now from Great Britain and he emphasizes physical strength in the game. ” – stated Csaba László.
Just like Macedonia, this is Lithuania’s last preparation match before September’s World Cup qualification games. They will host Slovakia in the first qualifier before visiting Greece in the next match.
Goalkeepers:
Žydrūnas Karčemarskas – Gaziantepspor, Turkey
Ernestas Šetkus – Botev Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Giedrius Arlauskis – Rubin, Russia
Defenders:
Deividas Šemberas – Alania, Russia
Arūnas Klimavičius – Aktobe, Kazakhstan
Tadas Kijanskas – Korona Kielce, Poland
Marius Žaliūkas – Heart of Midlothian, Scotland
Vytautas Andriuškevičius – Lechia Gdańsk, Poland
Valdemar Borovskij – Sūduva
Georgas Freidgeimas – Žalgiris
Midfielders:
Deividas Česnauskis – Bakı, Azerbaijan
Edgaras Česnauskis – Rostov, Russia
Ramūnas Radavičius – Žalgiris
Mindaugas Panka – Ruch Chorzów, Poland
Saulius Mikoliūnas – Arsenal Kyiv, Ukraine
Linas Pilibaitis – Győr, Hungary
Mantas Savėnas – Sunkar, Kazakhstan
Attackers:
Tomas Danilevičius – Juve Stabia, Italy
Darvydas Šernas – Zagłębie Lubin, Poland
Andrius Velička – AZAL, Azerbaijan
Tadas Labukas – Skonto, Latvia
Artūras Rimkevičius – Šiauliai
The game will take place on Wednesday, 15 August at the National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje. The kick-off is scheduled for 20.30 CET.