The 56-year-old specialist currently works at Kostanay’s “Tobol” club in Kazakhstan, and the UEFA Conference League draw brought him together with “Panevėžys”.
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These two teams will meet in the second qualifying round. The first battle will take place this Thursday at the “Aukštaitija” stadium at 6:30 PM.
“It should be an interesting match, we want to achieve a good result. The match will consist of two halves, the first will be in Panevėžys, and the second in Kostanay. We want a good result to be achieved in the first half,” – fk-panevezys.lt quotes G. Staučė.
In the “Tobol” team, he is responsible for goalkeeper training, and he joined the Kazakhstan club at the invitation of head coach Miroslav Romashchenko.
“The start of the season was very difficult, for the first time in six matches they had not achieved a single victory. The coaches resigned themselves, and I was invited to help,” – continued G. Staučė.
– When they resigned, I had to jump into cold water and fix everything. Not everything is working out yet, it’s hard to play away, although the game is already there. Sometimes red cards, unutilized moments let us down, so we play much better at home. In six matches – five victories, we lost only once when we received a red card. We will try to start with “Panevėžys” for the first victory.”
Last year, “Tobol”, which won bronze in the Kazakhstan championship and the country’s cup, is only in 9th place (out of 16 clubs) after 18 matches this season.
True, “Panevėžys” is not shining either. The LFF Cup winners are eighth among the 9 teams continuing the championship this Top League season.
“To be honest, the first impression of the opponent was “wow, it will be a long journey”, on the other hand, from the choices in the draw, it was one of the most evenly matched opponents, against whom, we believe, we have a chance to win in this pair. There are pros and cons in the draw, but in the professional world, the most important thing is to overcome the opponent, so the draw was very good and we have chances to win,” – the Finn Toni Korkeakunnas, who coaches the Aukštaitija club, told fk-panevezys.lt.
– The sad thing is that “Riteriai” were removed from the league, but for us it was quite a lucky moment, because we played a friendly match with a First League team – new players played then. Parfait Bizoza played in Kaunas and he is ready for the match, as he played in Norway during the season. Seydina Keita is a born leader, he knows the club, the players. We invited them because they are better among others.
Everyone is ready to play, except for two footballers who were injured in friendly matches – Lovro Grajfoneris and Rayen Mzoughi, they suffered minor injuries and will not play. A plus is that Elivelto has returned to the squad. It’s a long season – there are players returning and leaving. The situation is improving. Two Lithuanians who have arrived – Nauris Petkevičius and Valdas Paulauskas – are increasingly integrating into the team and are ready to compete.”
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Rokas Rasimavičius will also miss the first match against “Tobol”. Although he has recovered from his injury, he earned a red card in Europe two years ago, so he will have to serve a disqualification.
“Tobol” is also a team whose achievements this year are not satisfactory and is fighting for survival in the league, although it is experienced. They are also not in their best period and have changed coaches, just like “Panevėžys”. They have very good players. I had to work in the coaching staff of the Finnish national team and I know some footballers, especially Askhat Tagybergen, whose right foot is like “Kazakhstan’s Beckham”,” – said the head coach of “Panevėžys”.
– There is a lot of quality among the players, it is a team that stands out with ball control, so I emphasize how important it is to have a prepared defense. We can certainly punish them on counterattacks, but we must help each other and be good in defense, also – when without the ball, then some things can also be controlled. We know that they have technical wing players, but we have a clear plan on how to play.”
“The mood is combative, determined. We worked for a couple of weeks, prepared for these matches, played friendly matches. There are new players who have joined the team, we need to get used to playing together and understand each other. On Thursday, we are determined to fight,” – said “Panevėžys” goalkeeper Vytautas Černiauskas.
– From video analyses, we understand that this is a team that likes to play with the ball, technical. I think it will be a difficult match. There’s still an away match, so it’s hard to predict anything. Before these matches, there’s no great need to maintain the atmosphere in the locker room, because all the players understand their importance and give one hundred percent to participate here.”
The team captain Askhat Tagybergen also did not have an answer as to why “Tobol” is struggling this season, although the start seemed promising – the Kostanay club won the country’s Super Cup.
“When we won the Super Cup, we were in a good mood – “Tobol” always sets high goals, in Kazakhstan – it’s a big club that has played a lot in international competitions. I myself played in 2021 and 2022, in 2021 I became the country’s champion, I won the Super Cup four times.”
If I knew the answer to this question, it probably wouldn’t happen, but this is football, sport. You don’t win every day, and alongside victories come defeats, and that makes us stronger – as people, as athletes.
Now we have improved the game organization, tactics. In the championship, the matches are one thing, but international competitions are special. We are determined for that, we will fight. Matches in Europe require 100% concentration.”
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