Lithuania give youth a chance

Lithuania will send an experimental 21-man squad to the Baltic Cup in Estonia next week but still intend to fight for first place.

Inconvenient time
"Many players are on holidays after the end of the season and apart from this some of our international players were not released by their clubs," said coach Algimantas Liubinskas. "However, this tournament will be very useful as we will have the opportunity to check our reserves."

New faces
Young midfield players Aurimas Kucys and Edgaras Cesnauskis, who play for league leaders FK Ekranas, as well as forwards Ricardas Beniusis of FK Atlantas and Audrius Slekys from FBK Kaunas are all called up for the first time and are expected to make their international debuts during the tournament, which runs from 3-5 July.

Baltic fixtures
Estonia will play Lithuania in Valga on 3 July, with Latvia and Lithuania meeting the next day at the same venue. Estonia will then face Latvia in Tallinn on 5 July. The tournament also includes Under-21 matches between the three Baltic nations.

Next qualifier
Lithuania are currently fourth in UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying Group 5, with seven points from six games - four points adrift of leaders Germany. Their next qualifier is on 10 September away to the Faroe Islands.

Lithuania squad
Karcemarskas, Padimanskas, Papeckys, Dziaukstas, Dedura, Samusiovas, Radzius, Alunderis, Deividas and Edgaras Cesnauskis, Kucys, Petrenko, Tamosauskas, Buitkus, Maciulevicius, Mikalajunas, Razanauskas, Morinas, Poskus, Beniusis, Slekys.