Russia 4-1 Lithuania
Russia recovered from an early setback to end their UEFA EURO 2008 preparations on a high in the German town of Burghausen. Mantas Savenas put Lithuania ahead midway through the first half but Russia’s response was rapid with Konstantin Zyrianov levelling on 33 minutes before Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko struck to put Guus Hiddink’s side 3-1 up by the 64th minute. Vladimir Bystrov added a fourth with ten minutes remaining.
Changes
Having named a settled side for the previous friendly victories against Kazakhstan and Serbia, Hiddink opted to give a final work-out to several other squad members ahead of the Group D opener against Spain in Innsbruck on Tuesday. Vyacheslav Malafeev started in goal, while the PFC CSKA Moskva trio of Vasili Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich and Aleksei Berezutski were part of a four-man defensive unit. Dmitri Torbinski was given a chance to impress in midfield, with Arshavin – suspended for the first two group matches due to suspension – deployed on the left and Roman Adamov the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
Lithuania lead
Lithuania started in positive fashion, yet it was Zyrianov who had the first real chance of the game for Russia, shooting wide after eight minutes. Six minutes later Aleksei Berezutski presented Hiddink with a potential headache when he limped off, to be replaced by Renat Yanbaev. Soon after Russia were behind. After Tomas Danilevicius had put an effort wide, Algimantas Liubinskas’s side opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Savenas, one-on-one with Malafeev, scored from the rebound after his initial effort had struck the post.
Half-time replacements
Zyrianov quickly restored parity when his fine solo effort ended with a shot into the top corner but Russia nearly conceded again before half-time, Robertas Poškus failing to hit the target from ten metres after a mistake from Ignashevich. Hiddink introduced Roman Shirokov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Igor Semshov and Pavlyuchenko for the second half, and it was Pavlyuchenko who set up the second when his shot was parried by Žydrunas Karčemarskas in the 52nd minute and Arshavin tucked away the loose ball.
Penalty miss
Bilyaletdinov missed a penalty on the hour mark after Ignashevich was fouled in the box, but his miss was not to prove costly. Within four minutes, Bystrov, another substitute, found FC Spartak Moskva team-mate Pavlyuchenko on the edge of the area and he hit a spectacular volley into the roof of the net. Both teams threatened further goals - Arshavin striking the post at one end, Danilevicius’s strike bouncing off the crossbar at the other - before Bystrov completed the scoring in the 80th minute with a powerful drive from a tight angle which went in via the far post.
Russia lineup: Malafeev, V Berezutski, Ignashevich, A Berezutski (Yanbaev 14), Kolodin (Shirokov 46), Torbinskiy, Semak (Semshov 46), Zyrianov (Bilyaletdinov 46), Adamov (Pavlyuchenko 46), Arshavin, Sychev (Bystrov 55).    
Lithuania lineup: Karčemarskas, Šemberas (Labukas 47), Dedura, Skerla, Zvirgdzauskas, Savenas (Kalonas 61), Danilevicius, Mikoliunas (Šernas 77), Papeckys (Alunderis 83), Česnauskis (Skroblas 69), Poškus (Beniušis 76).

Is only 10 days to go to the beginning of the UEFA Euro 2008 Cup on June the 7th, and some teams are preparing themselves with friendly matches to warm themselves up. However, most of the final scores of these friendly matches were dissapointing. Here is the list of the friendly matches pre UEFA Euro 2008 Cup and the scores from each game (I am also including the next friendly match of each team, when there is one):
Germany 2 - Belarus 2
Germany was winning 2 to 0 on the first half, but on the last third part of the match, Belarus scored two goals. Today, Germany’s coach for the UEFA Euro 2008 Cup, Joachim Löw, reduced the list of players and removed from the team the following players: Patrick Helmes, Marko Marin and Jermaine Jones.
The next Friendly Match of Germany before the beginning of Euro 2008 will be against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The game will be on May the 31th.
France 2 - Ecuador 0
Bafétimbi Gomis scored 2 goals for France, against weak Ecuador. No surprise here, but perhaps more goals were expected. A solid winning with more than 3 goals for France was expected. However, most of the experienced French football players did not take part on the match, as they were resting (What are these matches for then?). Today, France’s Coach for the UEFA Euro Cup 2008, will introduce the definitive and final list of players for the French squad.
The next Friendly Match of France before the beginning of Euro 2008 is against Paraguay, in Toulousse. The match will be on May the 31th.
Austria 1 - Nigeria 1
Austria is one of the weak teams for the UEFA Euro 2008 Cup, so it comes as a surprise that the Nigerians did not scored more goals. Perhaps Austria is not so weak after all. Remember Korea? In the 2002 football World Cup?
The next Friendly Match of Austria before the beginning of Euro 2008 will be against Malta, in Graz. The match will be on May the 30th.
Czech Republic 2 - Lithuania 0
Two goals, Two times Jan Koller. When Jan Koller was injured in the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, the dreams of the Czech Republic faded. This year, in the Euro 2008, Jan Koller is back and with serious intentions of leading the Czechs to the final of the UEFA Euro Cup 2008. Be careful Portugal, Turkey and Swizterland! The Czech Republic is coming to the Euro 2008 with everything!!
The next Friendly Match of the Czech Republic before the beginning of UEFA Euro Cup 2008 will be against Belgium. The match will be on May the 30th.
Sweden 1 - Slovenia 0
The next Friendly Match of the Sweden before the beginning of UEFA Euro Cup 2008 will be against Ukraine. The match will be on June the 1st. The Netherlands defeated Ukraine on a match on May the 24th.
Poland 1 - Albania 0
Dutch Coach Leo Beenhakker has high hopes for the Polish team at Euro 2008, but the game of his team is uninspiring. Perhaps, just perhaps, there could be surprises. Leo Beenhakker has loads of football experience.
The next Friendly Match of Poland before the beginning of Euro 2008 will be against Denmark, on June the 1st.
Greece 2 - Hungary 3
With the spectacular game Greece showed on the qualifiying games for the UEFA Euro cup 2008, everybody is expecting a great game just like they had on the Euro 2004. But this result triggered alarms and perhaps signaled that this year the favourites are elsewhere.
The next Friendly Match of Greece before the beginning of Euro 2008 will be against Armenia, on June the 1st.
Other results of friendly matches before the begining of the UEFA Euro Cup 2008 were:
Switzerland 2 - Slovakia 0
Netherlands 3 - Ukraine 0
Croatia 1 - Moldova 0
Russia 6 - Kazakhstan 0
Turkey 2 - Uruguay 3