- Was our youth team lucky with the qualifying group for the European Championship 2009 again?
- It seems to me that the main principle of the new coach of the youth team should be the expression: anyway, with whom to play. When the Italians, Englishmen and Bulgarians came to me in the qualifying round of the championship of youth teams, everyone around me grabbed my heads. The group of death! .. But we took first place and reached the final part of the championship.
- Can there really be no difficult groups in this cycle?
- I would not divide the European teams into complex and uncomplicated. There is a rating of the national teams, but it may happen that the team is weaker than Russia, which we are supposed to beat, rests and clings to a draw or, worse, beat us. But it could be the other way around - the Russians will tune in to the game and beat the favorite of the group. I will tell you this: in this tournament there will be almost no passing matches. Even teams from the first basket - England, France, Holland - will lose points in matches with average and even weak opponents. You can’t lose points only with Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan, everyone else has learned to play.
- And who is best at pushing back?
- The last time this was skillfully practiced by Armenians and Israelis - but this is at a youthful level, at the Granatkin Memorial. Icelanders and the Northern Ireland team successfully practice such football. You play with them for ten minutes, and it seems that everything is working out and now you can easily tear them, but they skillfully close, and you begin to puzzle how to break through this defense.
- It means that it will be difficult with everyone ... But the tournament system is such that only those who take first place in ten groups are guaranteed access to butt games. Only two lucky ones will come out from second places. If you become a coach, will you fight for first place?
- We will strive to successfully play with each opponent, including the favorites - the Spaniards. The main thing is to configure the guys so that their knees do not tremble. After all, this happens even in adult football. Let's say some mediocre team, no matter which one, plays with an obviously strong opponent on the road. The task of the owners is to crush the unfortunate guests in the first 15 minutes. Some bend under this pressure and can not stand it, while others achieve the result they need. And then the strong team is at a loss: how so, we did not score in the first minutes, what should we do? They begin to change the game plan, to rebuild, to open, and with a smart coach, this plays into the hands of the guests. I always told the guys: on the field you should play your football, and not answer the one that the opponent offers. Then you can defeat anyone.
- That is, the reason for the previous failures of the youth was fear?
“ Not just him.” I do not want to discuss previous convocations - after all, new guys will come to the team now. The team should go out to a match with an opponent and not be afraid to play the first number, but without arrogance. If the rivals, like us, are Spaniards, then you need to take into account their class and thoroughly study the weaknesses before the game. But you need to play as you want, and not as the opponent allows. Each line should have a leader who can lead players at certain points in the meeting. We must not forget that sometimes there are matches where the result is more important than the game. If necessary, we will sacrifice aesthetics for the sake of the result. It will be necessary to play for zero - lock ourselves in defense, come up with a plan, play as you like, if only to achieve the desired score. I liked the Italians at the last World Cup, who mainly cared for the defense, and scored goals due to a couple of excellent performers ahead. They played only one beautiful match for the tournament and became champions.
- The mystery team of our group - the national team of Poland?
- They have people from the legendary Poland 1982 team working in their coaching staff. So the Poles are also dangerous.
- You are still a contender for the place of head coach. How do you evaluate your own chances?
- I can say one thing - I have good chances. I didn’t come from the outside - I have been working in the RFU for four years, the champion of Europe 2006 as a coach. Judge for yourself.
- And among the candidates were not mentioned foreigners?
- If you appoint a foreigner, it will not be funny. Well, let’s everywhere now we have foreigners, for all ages! No, this is impossible. I played in Italy for ten years, it turns out that I myself am almost a foreigner.
Anton OTKIDACH