Zutautas snubbed by Lithuania

There is no place for captain Raimondas Zutautas in Lithuania's squad to face Scotland on 11 October.

Player of the year
Coach Algimantas Liubinskas has not included the Panathinaikos FC midfield player, voted player of the year in Lithuania last season, as his side face play-off hopefuls Scotland in their final UEFA EURO 2004™ Group 5 qualifier.

Liubinskas explanation
"We don't have many stars, so we're hoping for a good team effort," explained Liubinskas. "Zutautas doesn't suit our style, and from talking with him I understood that he is not really so keen to play for the national team."

Good results
Curiously, in their captain's absence, Lithuania earned their two best results of the campaign - a 1-1 draw in Germany and a 1-0 win at home against Scotland. Lithuania are currently fourth in Group 5, a point behind Scotland, but have no chance of progressing.

Missing men
Brondby IF defender Aurelijus Skarbalius misses out due to a knee injury, while PFC CSKA Moskva's Deividas Semberas is serving a four-match suspension. Igoris Morinas, who scored twice in the 3-1 win in the Faroe Islands last month, has been included although he is still nursing a leg injury.

New face
Elsewhere, FBK Kaunas striker Ricardas Beniusis, who leads the Lithuanian championship's scoring chart with 12 goals, receives his first call-up while the Latvian-based duo of Orestas Buitkus, from Skonto FC, and Deimantas Bicka, from FK Ventspils, both return to the squad.

Lithuania squad
Stauce, Padimanskas, Kurskis, Dedura, Dziaukstas, Alunderis, Zvirgzdauskas, Regelskis, Barasa, Radzius, Skerla, Petrenko, Buitkus, Morinas, Vencevicius, Razanauskas, Gedgaudas, Poderis, Bicka, Jankauskas, Poskus, Guscinas, Beniusis.