Edgaras Jankauskas talks about his move to MLS and the New England Revolution

July 8, 7:03 PMBoston Pro Soccer ExaminerL.E. Eisenmenger

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Edgaras Jankauskas

Today after practice Boston Pro Soccer Examiner spoke with recent New England Revolution international signing Edgaras Jankauskas. The 6'4 34 year-old Lithuanian striker brings 18 years of international experience and a calm, possessive striker presence to New England.

"He’s fitting in great," said head coach Steve Nicol. "He’s experienced, he’s good with the younger guys, as most of our experienced guys are, and he wants to do well. He gives everybody confidence. When you give him the ball, 99 times out of 100 we’re going to keep it. When players around you know that, it gives them confidence to make runs."

Jankauskas represented Lithuania 54 times between the ages of 16 and 33 and scored 10 goals, six of them in World Cup Qualifying between 2002-2006.

Jankauskas began his career in Lithuania and Russia and played throughout Europe and Britain. In 2001-2, he scored 19 goals playing with Real Sociedad in the Spanish Premiera DIvision before being loaned to Benfica where he scored eight goals in 12 appearances. in 2003-4, he scored 19 goals with FC Porto under Jose Mourinho in the UEFA Champions League. In 2004-5 he played with Nice in the French Ligue 1, from 2005-2007 with Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League, and in 2008 with Skonto Riga in Latvia.

The Revolution's forward line has been crippled by the loss of 101-goal striker Taylor Twellman to a concussion and then by injuries to Steve Ralston and Shalrie Joseph, and the former powerhouse team currently ties with the New York Red Bulls for fewest goals scored (15) in the league.

To add Jankauskas to the roster, the Revolution traded a 2010 third round draft pick for an international roster spot from the Kansas CIty Wizards. The Revolution had traded away their eighth international spot in the acquisition of Pat Phelan from Toronto FC.

Jankauskas already impacts the field

Jankauskas has a powerful, professional presence on the field and off, and even in his one week with the club is settling and transforming the top third of the field. In practice, he drew his attacking teammates closely together  with short crafty touches and then finished with an easy ball in the net.

Personally, he is professional and poised, and despite the challenge of speaking in his non-native English, in a heavy Eastern European accent the veteran international conveyed the seriousness with which he takes this game and his job with the Revolution.

LE: Edgaras, what do you think of the level of MLS so far?

Jankauskas: I haven’t seen lots, only one game and we lost the game. It was a tough game, but I think we didn’t deserve to lose the game - they didn’t score a goal in the second half because we put more pressure on our opponents. There are a lot of games coming so I hope we will do much better in the future.

LE: Before you came to New England, did you watch MLS at all?

Jankauskas: No, we don’t have a chance to see those games. In Europe, we have a lot of games to watch like the Spanish league, English, so we don’t care much about MLS football. That’s true, sad, but true.

LE: How does the level of your last team compare to what you experienced this past week at the LA Galaxy?

Jankauskas: My last team, I played for a few months in Latvia for Skonto, next to my home town. I think MLS is stronger than Latvia or those Baltic leagues, probably not as strong as Spanish, French, or Portuguese, but compared to Baltic leagues or Slovenia, it’s much stronger. I can judge by our last game with Los Angeles where I saw that the game is tough here.

LE: What was your welcome like here, who helped you fit in?

Jankauskas: The whole group is very friendly, the medical staff and all the guys have been very nice to me, so no problems there. It wouldn’t be fair to specify anyone, but all of them have been friendly so thanks a lot to them.

LE: The Revolution are an excellent team but right now they have a plague of injuries to top players. Have you ever played with a team in this situation?

Jankauskas: Yes, I have. Eight starters are injured so of course it affects the team a lot. A good point is that young players can get the experience, but of course the team always needs the best players [to come] back to the team, so hopefully, it will come soon and we will celebrate our victories.

LE: Why did you come to New England  and what are your goals here?

Jankauskas: For me, it’s a new experience, I just want to be useful to this team, one more unit in the team, that’s it. None of our Lithuanian players ever played here so it’s nice that it’s opened up the market, for me as well. My goals are to play good, to win the games, to score some goals, to help the team, to achieve our goals.

See Edgaras Jankauskas and the New England Revoution take on the Kansas City Wizards this Saturday, July 11 at 4PM at Gillette Stadium in a triple header with the US Men's National Team vs. Haiti at 7PM and Honduras vs. Grenada at 9PM when the international squads compete for the Gold Cup.

Buy tickets here.

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