That is a terrible result, getting bossed and losing to a very poor Lithuanian team, second string or not.
It’s a poor result but not terrible. The starting midfield are currently 3 of the worst midfielders in the A League let alone international football. If this same starting 11 fronted up in Lisbon against Ronaldo and his mates, they’d easily concede 6 or more.
Don't see the point of that comparison? The point is we were playing one of the poorest European sides, minnows includee, with a team full of professional players, including the likes of Rojas, Smith, and Tuiloma, with Singh and Bell getting big minutes too. We barely threatened, and they could have got more. It's all good and well to say Wood, Reid, and Thomas were not there, but they may not be there for Oceania qualifying games either. Let's not pretend that this team was some sort of rabble that will never get on the park together ever again.
If you are talking comparison, are the Lithuanian players not professional players?
Of course they are, it's international football. But none of those players play at higher level than most of the guys we had on the park.
A lot of that team plays in Lithuania which if it's pro it's only just. It's not a high level, there was talk of setting up a combined Baltic league of professional clubs but I think that's died down.
Some trainspotting. Of the Lithuanian starting 11, the players are at clubs in the following leagues -
5 players spread over top flights in - Israel, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Serbia. Another in Bundesliga 2
Remaining 5 play in Lithuania with 4 at one club (Žalgiris).
A few of the overseas based players, have also previously played for Žalgiris
I haven't seen any Lithuanian domestic league games but I have seen plenty of the Latvian league which is supposedly the strongest league in the Baltics and the standard is pretty dire, I think although the players are professional the wages are probably semi pro level - we're talking state leagues or handy prem level.