Lithuania coach Edgaras Jankauskas has made no secret of his ambition of taking maximum spoils from tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Malta but warned that the home side will prove to be a hard nut to crack.
The Lithuanians are desperate to lift their spirits with a win at the National Stadium after a depressing run in Group F.
In fact, after defeating Pietro Ghedin’s team 2-0 in Vilnius a year ago, Jankauskas’s team have suffered five successive defeats, scoring just one goal and conceding 15.
“The match against Malta is a great chance for us to get back to winning ways and bounce back a poor run of results,” Jankauskas, a Champions League winner with Porto in 2004, told a news conference yesterday.
Lithuania coach Edgaras Jankauskas is eyeing a win against Malta tonight.“I’m expecting a very difficult match as Malta are a very organised side who are very hard to break down.
“We have first-hand experience of how difficult it could be to get the first goal as in the first match in Lithuania we had to wait until the final stages of the match to find the breakthrough.
“Besides, they will be playing in front of their fans so they will be extra motivated to try and get a positive result.”
Lithuania have been in Malta since last Monday to prepare for the match against Malta today and their final qualifier against England in Vilnius on Sunday and preparations have gone according to plan for Jankauskas who has no injury worries for today’s match.
This was the first time that Malta and Lithuania were paired in a qualifying group of either a World Cup or a European Championship.
Next season, the two countries may well meet again if they are drawn in the same group of the first edition of the UEFA Nations League.
Asked on whether the newly-formed competition offered Lithuania a good opportunity to make a major championship final, Jankauskas said: “To be sincere I don’t have much information on the competition.
But the Euro Nations League could be very positive for small countries who will face more or less opponents of their same calibre.
“It will be a new challenge for everyone and we will try and get the best possible result in the Nations League.”