Lewis Koumas (right) scored on his senior Liverpool debut against Southampton in the FA Cup
Wales recovered from an early mistake to come from behind and beat Lithuania 2-1 in the 2025 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.
An under-hit pass from goalkeeper Evan Watts was picked up by Motiejus Burba, who then buried his effort into the top corner to give the visitors the lead.
Four minutes later, Wales were level, Rubin Colwill taking advantage of Julius Virvilas’ error to make it 1-1.
And Wales completed the comeback when Lewis Koumas struck on his debut.
Koumas’ first-time curling finish on 76 minutes came after brilliant work in midfield from Colwill, who stole the ball back on half-way before finding the Liverpool youngster on the edge of the box.
The 18-year-old almost had his second of the game in the third minute of injury time, but his low driving effort went just the wrong side of the post.
Victory sees Wales move top of qualification Group I, three points ahead of Denmark, although the Danes have two games in hand.
A reduced squad will now make the trip to Antalya in Turkey as Matty Jones’ side face Olympic Games bound Morocco Under-23s in a friendly on Tuesday, 26 March.
Line-ups
Wales U21
Formation 4-3-3
12Watts
2Stevens6Baker5Hoole19Davies
14Cotterill20Ashworth10Colwill
11Jones13Harris8Hammond
- 12Watts
- 2Stevens
- 6Baker
- 5 Refused
- 19Davies
- 14CotterillSubstituted forKoumasat 66’minutes
- 20AshworthBooked at 65mins
- 10ColwillSubstituted forEwingat 90’minutes
- 11JonesSubstituted forPopovat 75’minutes
- 13Harris
- 8Hammond
Substitutes
- 1Beach
- 3McLaughlin-Miles
- 4Williams
- 7Lloyd
- 9Koumas
- 15Williams
- 17Popov
- 18Ewing
- 23Colwill
Lithuania U21
Formation 4-4-2
12Virvilas
3Baltrunas2Stankevicius13Zebrauskas4Kersys
7 Burba 14 Zebrauskas 16 Remeikis 9 Jarusevicius
10 Buzas 19 Steponavicius
- 12Virvilas
- 3Baltrunas
- 2Stankevicius
- 13Zebrauskas
- 4KersysBooked at 59mins
- 7Burba
- 14ZebrauskasSubstituted for Burdzilauskasat 87’minutes
- 16 Remeikis
- 9JaruseviciusSubstituted forLuksysat 87’minutes
- 10BuzasSubstituted forDovydaitisat 65’minutesBooked at 90mins
- 19SteponaviciusSubstituted forMiceviciusat 77’minutes
Substitutes
- 1Kirieyev
- 5Aleksa
- 6 Sluta
- 8 Burzilauskas
- 11 Dovydaitis
- 15 Micevicius
- 17Luksys
- 20 Answer
- 23Slendzoka
Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes
Attendance:1,311
Live Text
Match ends, Wales U21 2, Lithuania U21 1.
Second Half ends, Wales U21 2, Lithuania U21 1.
Deividas Dovydaitis (Lithuania U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Substitution, Wales U21. Oliver Ewing replaces Rubin Colwill.
Substitution, Lithuania U21. Ernestas Burdzilauskas replaces Karolis Zebrauskas.
Substitution, Lithuania U21. Nojus Luksys replaces Gustas Jarusevicius.
Substitution, Lithuania U21. Gabriel Micevicius replaces Faustas Steponavicius.
Goal! Wales U21 2, Lithuania U21 1. Lewis Koumas (Wales U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Rubin Colwill.
Substitution, Wales U21. Chris Popov replaces Patrick Jones.
Substitution, Wales U21. Lewis Koumas replaces Joel Cotterill.
Substitution, Lithuania U21. Deividas Dovydaitis replaces Titas Buz.
Zachary Ashworth (Wales U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Kristupas Kersys (Lithuania U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Second Half begins Wales U21 1, Lithuania U21 1.
First Half ends, Wales U21 1, Lithuania U21 1.
Goal! Wales U21 1, Lithuania U21 1. Rubin Colwill (Wales U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Luke Harris.
Goal! Wales U21 0, Lithuania U21 1. Motiejus Burba (Lithuania U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
2024-03-22 19:54:40
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