Marked for Warren Mouko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Justas Lasickas
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utenis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Trakai is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market13 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market13 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Trakai
Warren Mouko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market13 Aug 2029
Atlantas are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Trakai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrius Dapkus, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Match
Continental football is in reach for Trakai
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Boardroom
The Trakai academy earns its keep
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Squad
The training reports on Hamzat Balogun are not good
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Aug 2029
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Trakai have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market6 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: Kauno Zalgiris have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Olanrewaju Molade. The answer from Trakai has not changed — yet.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Warren Mouko commits to Trakai for another 3 years.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Arvydas Simkus falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout6 Aug 2029
Tomas Cernych gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tomas Cernych is on it.
Market6 Aug 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Suleiman Badaru has his answer from Trakai; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces2 Apr 2029
The mood at Trakai has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
A brace, and Deividas Barauskas takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Deividas Barauskas provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match2 Apr 2029
Trakai are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 7 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market2 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match31 Mar 2029
Trakai get the job done against Utenis
A 3‑2 win over Utenis, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Arvydas Simkus falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Trakai
Lukas Sernas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daiki Minamino commits to Trakai for another 3 years.
In brief
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Warren Mouko
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Edgaras Paulauskas has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match17 Mar 2029
2‑5 to Zalgiris, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match17 Mar 2029
Aidas Dubickas among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Aidas Dubickas on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Trakai and Zalgiris.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lukas Sernas commits to Trakai for another 3 years.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Trakai
Warren Mouko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Feb 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Warren Mouko and Trakai agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Simkus is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Trakai
Saulius Cernych and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Feb 2029
6 new faces, and Trakai are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Mantas Lasickas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Trakai will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trakai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces5 Feb 2029
The mood at Trakai has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match5 Feb 2029
Trakai are in real trouble now
Position 6, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market5 Feb 2029
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saulius Cernych reports back to Trakai with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Trakai close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market5 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Andrius Dapkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrius Dapkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Trakai
Lukas Sernas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Sajčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Veljko Bogićević, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Everything agreed with Kauno Zalgiris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Simkus is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Warren Mouko in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Trakai would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
Andrius Dapkus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Trakai have gone to Utenis with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Trakai
Tomas Cernych and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Titas Milašius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Olanrewaju Molade, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market28 Aug 2028
The clock does Titas Milašius’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Trakai could ask drops and the wages Titas Milašius can ask rise.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 Jul 2028
Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match24 Jul 2028
Trakai are in real trouble now
Position 6, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Hamzat Balogun: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 Jul 2028
Andrius Dapkus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Trakai
Chigozie Ani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Titas Milašius falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Chigozie Ani knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trakai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clock does Titas Milašius’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Trakai could ask drops and the wages Titas Milašius can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Supporters organise against the Trakai board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Jun 2028
Trakai sink to position 6
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Trakai offered $40.0K; Kauno Zalgiris said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Trakai asked and Utenis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Titas Milašius is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market26 Jun 2028
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.