Northern Ireland v Lithuania (12/11/2021)

THE COACH: LITHUANIA

Valdas Ivanauskas was appointed Lithuania’s

manager in August but had to wait to be in the dugout for his first match after testing positive for Covid-19 prior to the World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in Vilnius in September. Ivanauskas missed the September trips to Bulgaria and Italy too, but he was able to take charge of the 3-1 victory over the Bulgarians in October when Lithuania ended a run of nine straight defeats. Upon taking the job Ivanauskas – he has also coached his country’s Under-18 and Under-21 teams – said: “The last defeats were painful , not only in terms of results, but also in terms of mood. “We are in a really difficult situation; we are realistic, and we understand everything; we understand that something needs to change. It takes patience and faith, but it is also very important that the players really want to play for the national team, try to give their full strength and show their mastery.” The 55-year-old had only been in charge of Lithuania’s Under-19s since February and his current contract with the senior side expires after this qualification campaign. He was born in Kaunas and as a striker played for some of Europe’s major clubs, including CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Hamburg. He played for both the Soviet Union and Lithuania as an international , winning five caps for the former between 1988 and 1990, and scoring eight goals in 28 appearances for the nation he now manages. Ivanauskas has had a long coaching and managerial career, and he has previously been in

WORDS: LIAM BLACKBURN

charge of Scottish Premier League club Hearts. He guided them to a second-place finish in the division as well as a Scottish Cup triumph in 2005-06 when Hearts beat Gretna on penalties in the final at Hampden Park to win the competition for a seventh time. He left the Edinburgh club by mutual consent in March 2007 and later managed Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany, FK Banga Gargzdai, FK Siauliai and FK REO in Lithuania, Standard Sumgayit in Azerbaijan, Dila Gori in Georgia, SKA-Energiya Khabarovsk in Russia and Zaglebie Sosnowiec in Poland. • Of Ivanauskas’ eight international goals, three of them came in one match as he hit a hat-trick in a 4-2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 1998. • He made over 400 league appearances for clubs in Lithuania, Russia, Austria and Germany, and scored 96 goals. • While with Austria Vienna he was twice the top scorer in the Austrian Bundesliga and won three successive titles. • Ivanuaskas was Hearts’ first foreign manager. His win percentage of 50% from the 42 games he took charge of as an interim and permanent manager is sixth best in the Edinburgh club’s history.

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