Jau sena naujiena, kurią visiškai praleidome. Paraleliai vasarą žaidė JAV lygose.
Lithuanian Youth International Jonas Bickus Joins the Mighty Oak
https://www.afcannarbor.com/latestnews/ ... mighty-oak
May 2, 2022
AFC Ann Arbor are pleased to announce the signing of Jonas Bickus ahead of the 2022 USL League Two season. Bickus was born in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and he is coming out of his freshman season at Stony Brook University.
Bickus has a rich footballing career both domestically and internationally. Coming out of the Lithuanian Football Federation Academy, Bickus signed his first professional contract with two-time Lithuanian Cup winner FK Atlantas. In his first year, he played six A Lyga matches, the top-most division of Lithuanian soccer pyramid. His talent was soon recognized by the top level, and was scouted by the Spanish LaLiga side Levante UD in 2018.
After an 18-month long stint at Levante youth, Bickus returned to his country and joined the A Lyga outfit FK Banga Gargzdai. With them, the Lithuanian appeared in 16 matches, logging an assist in the process. He then moved to the second-tier side FK Neptunas Klaipeda in early 2021.
Apart from his professional career, Bickus has been capped for the Lithuanian youth international. He was part of the U17, U19, and U21 age group. He was the regular starter for the U19 team, playing 14 international games and scoring three goals. In 2017 and 2018, the forward led his nation in the UEFA Euro U19 Championship qualifiers, playing against powerhouse sides like France and Belgium.
Recalling back his earlier career, Bickus admitted that his international experiences helped him to be a better player, and he was ready to utilize it for the success of the team. “At a quite young age I got lucky to play in a few countries and for the national team, which gave me a lot of experience. I will do my best to use it to help my new team to reach their goals in the season.”
Having finished the first half of the 2021 season in his hometown, Bickus then turned his eye to the United States. Stony Brook is where he spent the latter half of the 2021 season. On moving to America for a new chapter of his career, Bickus would say, “It is simple, if you want to achieve your goals you have to sacrifice a lot in life.” There, he appeared in all 15 games for Stony Brook and notched four goals for the NCAA Division I side. After the season, Bickus was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Freshmen Top 100 list.
Bickus mentioned that he was impressed by AFCAA’s organizational goals, and that served as the main factor that led his decision. “I think this club and organization are doing a great job. To whom I spoke about AFCAA, they only told me positive things, and that’s why I decided to join.”
In talking about his attributes, Bickus described himself as a diligent, powerful striker. “As a person I would say I am very disciplined, friendly and patient. As a player I am a heavy striker who likes to hold the ball, score goals in the box and work hard for the team.” On discussing season goals, Bickus would say, “I will help the team to reach our goals this season and I believe that it will help me to improve individually as a player.”
Stony Brook isn’t an unfamiliar name to AFCAA as the club had welcomed the Seawolves alumni Serge Gamwanya, Moco Watson, Jarred Dass, and Stephen Turnbull to Ann Arbor previously. Club Sporting Director Eric Rudland highlighted a strong bond between AFCAA and Stony Brook, as well as Bickus’ attributes as a forward.
“It’s great for us to keep the Stony Brook connection alive and well. Jonas made a big impact for them this past fall as he led their front line.” Rudland would continue, speaking to the ability of Bickus, saying, “He is a prototypical #9, who will function well in our system of play and compliment the players we have coming in around him.”
We welcome Jonas again to the Mighty Oak family and we look forward to a positive 2022 USL season with the entire men’s and women’s team.
About AFC Ann Arbor
Association Football Club Ann Arbor (AFC Ann Arbor) was founded in 2014 and competes in USL2 (men’s) and USLW (women’s) national amateur leagues. We are a community-based club, focused on equity, justice, and anti-racism. We consider all of our stakeholders, including supporters, players, staff, and ownership to be part of the #AFCAAFamily. Come On You Mighty Oak!