Lithuania (9) v (5) Timor-Leste

By Matthew Price

LITHUANIA surged to the top of group B with a clinical 9-5 win over Timor-Leste at Melbourne pitch on Tuesday afternoon.

Fielding one of the older sides in the 2008 Homeless World Cup, the Lithuanians scored with the first attacking move of the game.

They broke to a 3-0 lead with barely two minutes played, and struck regularly to take a 6-2 lead into the one-minute half-time break.

Two of the early goals came from talismanic No.10 Raimondas Stamulis, a grey-haired striker sporting a moustache and the kind of belly seen on Diego Maradona in some of his later years.

Timor-Leste were heroic earlier today in their narrow defeat to Argentina, but they were outmuscled here and struggled to break down a hard-working Lithuanian defence.

Lithuania's keeper positioned himself well and leapt for several superb saves, including a reflex stop off Natalino Da Silva Faria just before half time.

Mario Freitas finally put Timor-Leste on the board with a curled right-foot shot for 3-1, but hope of a comeback was quickly scotched by the physically tougher Lithuanians.

Vytautas Skirmantas was in the thick of things as Lithuania powered on, coolly goaling with his right-foot, then arrowing a pass across the face of goal to set up an easy tap-in for 5-1.

A clash of bodies near the side hoardings forced Rolandas Tvirbutas from the ground for treatment on an injured elbow. The substitution didn't slow Lithuania, with Gediminas Sadlauskas finding Timor-Leste's keeper – Donato Ximenes Sequeira – out of position for its sixth goal.

Two more goals to Tvirbutas secured Lithuania a comfortable buffer early in the second half, with an own goal the only consolation for Timor-Leste.

Six-goal hero Amaro da Silva struggled to make the same impact he had against Argentina today, but his namesake – Da Silva Faria – added a penalty to provide some consolation for the Asians.

Mario Guterres Benevides wove through a pack of players and planted his finish into the top corner to leave the result 9-5 and Timor-Leste another fine goal for their show reel.

Photos: Photoworx