More than two decades have passed since Robertas Poškus was scoring goals for Krylya Sovetov Samara and later Zenit St Petersburg. Lithuania’s 2003 Footballer of the Year, who earned 48 caps and scored eight goals for the national team, spoke about Lithuania’s upcoming Nations League campaign, his successful spell in Azerbaijan, his return to coaching and the future of football in his native Klaipėda.
Lithuania will soon face Azerbaijan. You spent several years playing there yourself. What memories do you have from your time in the country?
When I played there, football in Azerbaijan was only beginning to develop. At that time, about half of the Azerbaijan national team came from our club. The core of the team was mainly made up of Ukrainians who had taken Azerbaijani citizenship.
They were coached by a German manager at the time, but they were unable to achieve immediate results. Now their national team is mostly made up of Azerbaijani players and their overall level has risen significantly. They have built many stadiums and their clubs are playing in the Champions League and other European competitions.
Overall, their level has definitely improved and it will be interesting to see them. In my opinion, Azerbaijan are a team Lithuania can beat, but it certainly will not be easy.
From my personal experience, I became Azerbaijani champion with Inter Baku, now Shamakhi, in the 2009/10 season and scored 14 goals that year, 12 in the league and two in the cup. We lost in the cup semi-final against another Baku club. I have good memories of my time in Azerbaijan. I enjoyed my time there.
What do you think about Lithuania’s prospects during this international window?
I regularly watch the national team. In our last friendly against Georgia, which we lost 0-2 in Kaunas, I thought we actually looked quite good and you can see that we are moving forward.
Of course, the Baltic Cup did not go our way when we lost 0-1 to Estonia in the final in Tallinn, but despite everything, I think the national team should be capable of producing a good result.
Lithuania will play twice against Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan. During your international career, you scored against teams such as the Faroe Islands. What is it like playing against smaller football nations, even though Lithuania itself is not one of Europe’s biggest countries?
In our time, we faced much stronger opponents. Even though our national team was much stronger than the current one, it was not necessarily easier for us. In fact, sometimes it was more difficult.
There were fewer teams in the qualifying groups. We could collect 16 points, finish third and still not qualify. That says a lot about the level of our national team at the time.
The smaller nations were not really competitors for us back then and we usually beat them comfortably. We were competing against teams such as Spain and Italy. We fought against them and certainly did not simply surrender.
But times change and now almost everyone has learned how to play football. We have seen smaller nations give the biggest teams difficult matches. The levels have become much closer and everyone has to prove their superiority on the pitch because football has improved significantly even in smaller countries.
In our current situation, Lithuania do not have any easy opponents. The days when we could beat these teams without putting in too much effort are gone.
How many points do you expect Lithuania to take from these four Nations League matches?
I believe in the Lithuania national team. I would like to see a good result.
I liked how the team played in the friendlies and I definitely think we can compete. I hope we finish first in the group.
What was behind your long break from club coaching? Before that, you worked with Zaglebie Sosnowiec in Poland and Klaipėdos Granitas.
I had moved away from football for a while and shifted more towards business. I was also spending less time in Lithuania.
During that period, my mother passed away in America, so all my thoughts were with her. Now I am ready to return to football at full speed.
You took charge of Klaipėdos Sirijus in March. How would you assess how things are going for your team in Lithuania’s third tier?
There were no major targets set. The main objective was simply to keep our place in the A Division.
But as a coach I am a maximalist and you always want to achieve as much as possible. Personally, we are not giving up and we will try to fight for fourth place.
We will try to show something more this season because we have put together a good team and the players are ready to fight for these objectives, even though there are fewer than ten rounds remaining.
What is the current situation within the Klaipėda football community? After Atlantas and Palanga were removed from the A Lyga in 2019, are there now people with the ambition to bring top-flight football back to Klaipėda or Palanga?
The community has been divided in recent years. After Atlantas disappeared, the situation was not right for Klaipėda to have a club in the highest division.
I will put it simply. The people involved in Klaipėda football want a club in the top division. The process is ongoing and the goal and desire are to have a team in the toplyga.
We are moving in that direction. There are positive changes and discussions between the people making the decisions. I think Klaipėda will have a club in the highest division in the future.
Who currently owns the Atlantas name?
The Atlantas name belongs to Romas Jonaitis. But I will put it simply: nobody wants to pay somebody else’s debts and give money for what happened with that club.
First of all, Atlantas has significant debts and it is not even clear exactly how large they are, whether it is half a million or a million. Nobody is going to pay other people’s debts and nobody wants to take that responsibility.
Maybe in the future a club will emerge under a different name. To speak openly, the Atlantas name is not that important to many people today, and perhaps it would even be better to start again from a clean sheet.
People of my age and older still remember the Atlantas years, but the younger generation growing up and playing football now does not have the same connection with that name and is gradually forgetting it.
Perhaps it is time to turn a new page in the history and start everything again.
Returning to the Lithuanian championship, Žalgiris Vilnius have attracted plenty of attention this season. What do you think about the direction the club is taking?
I was surprised, but I am happy that people have arrived who have invested significant money and want to revive the club.
The whole process needs time, especially with the first team. I am pleased that they are investing heavily in their academy. They have put together a good group of players who are also representing Lithuania’s youth national teams, which is encouraging.
It is not that simple, though. Money does not mean everything. You also have to build the team properly, but I think they are moving in a good direction.
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