Estonia head into their latest Women’s World Cup qualifying match against Lithuania determined to prevent the quick breaks and set-piece threats that have shaped their opponents’ recent results.
The sides meet with both teams having played only once in the newly started qualifying campaign. Estonia began with a 3-1 defeat by Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Lithuania opened with a 6-1 win away to Liechtenstein.
Head coach Aleksandra Ševoldajeva said Lithuania’s approach has remained consistent across matches her staff have analysed, including last year’s meeting between the teams and games against the Faroe Islands and Latvia.
“Lithuania’s pattern of play has been relatively stable,” Ševoldajeva said. “They have very, very strong counter-attacks where they play to their key players. Nothing surprised us – they simply executed their strengths – counter-attacks and set plays – very well.”
Estonia will be especially wary of Lithuania striker Rimantė Jonušaitė, who scored four times against Liechtenstein and also found the net against Estonia in November. The 22-year-old, named Lithuania’s women’s footballer of the year for 2025, is regarded as a key threat in transition, using her pace and physicality to punish teams on the break.
Lithuania played Estonia in a friendly in December, but Jonušaitė, herself, expects a different contest in competitive conditions.
“The opponent is familiar, but now we expect different matches. Friendlies don’t show much,” she said. “They will change something, we will change something too, so a very difficult match awaits.”
Jonušaitė also pointed to the stability of Lithuania’s squad as a strength, saying the long-standing core of the group has helped build close bonds.
“We are like a family, we’ve been playing together for many years,” she said. “I grew up here, I see these players more than my own family. We spend a lot of time together, we are very close and we help each other before and after matches.”
Lithuania head coach Tomas Ražanauskas echoes the sentiment:
“Most likely it will be a different level of match, where we will need to put in even more effort to get a positive result,” Ražanauskas said.
“For us, the most important thing is to beat Estonia. Estonia and Lithuania are of a similar level
“They combine well and try to play technical football. It’s an interesting team, with quite a lot of young players, so it should be a really interesting match.”
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Sources:
https://soccernet.ee/artikkel/revansiteatepulk-pihku-ja-jooksu-eesti-asub-nullima-kontrarunnakuid-et-siis-leedu-ule-kombineerida
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