Darvydas Sernas scored in the first half to help Lithuania earn a surprising 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in the host's opening qualifying game for the 2012 European Championship on Tuesday.
Sernas was left unmarked in the area and headed in from close range in the 26th minute from a cross by Marius Stankevicius on a fast counter attack.
The forward's strike gave Lithuania it's first ever victory over the Czechs following four losses.
Following a failure to qualify for the World Cup, the Czechs could be heading for another disappointing qualifying campaign with an embarrassing defeat against an opponent seen as a much weaker team.
"That's an awful start to the qualifying," captain Tomas Rosicky said. "We made it very complicated for us from the start."
Milan Baros wasted a chance to equalize five minutes before halftime with a poorly executed penalty kick that was saved by Lithuania goalkeeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas.
"Football can be cruel," Baros said. "We had chances but we wasted them all."
Following a 0-0 draw with Scotland on Friday, Lithuania has four points in Group I. The Czechs have none.
The group's clear favorite Spain played a friendly in Argentina Tuesday following its 4-0 Group I win over Liechtenstein.
The Czechs next play Scotland at home on Oct. 8, while Lithuania travels to Spain.
The Czechs applied early pressure and missed a number of chances to score. Karcemarskas had to dive to his left to save Baros' header seven minutes into the game and forward Martin Fenin collected a pass from Tomas Hubschman in the 20th but failed to control the ball when he had just the keeper to beat.
Fenin also narrowly missed the target in the 44th on a solo effort with a rising shot.
As the Czechs mounted pressure, Rosicky's low shot from the edge of the area was off target in the 67th. In the final minute, Karcemarskas made a leg save on Tomas Necid's attempt to equalize.
The visitors relied on counter attacks and came close in the 10th when Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech had to race from his line to deny Mindaugas Panka.
Lineups:
Czech Republic: Petr Cech, Zdenek Pospech, Roman Hubnik, Michal Kadlec, Daniel Pudil (Roman Bednar, 83), Jaroslav Plasil, Tomas Hubschman, Jan Polak (Jiri Stajner, 68), Tomas Rosicky, Milan Baros, Martin Fenin (Tomas Necid, 63).
Lithuania: Zydrunas Karcemarskas, Marius Stankevicius, Andrius Skerla, Tadas Kijanskas, Ramunas Radavicius, Saulius Mikoliunas (Vytautas Luksa, 78), Deividas Semberas, Mindaugas Panka, Edgaras Cesnauskis, Tomas Danilevicius (Kestutis Ivaskevicius, 89), Darvydas Sernas (Robertas Poskus, 60).
