On Saturday, September 24, the League of Nations match between the national teams of Armenia and Ukraine will be held in Yerevan. Today, the head coach of our national team Alexander Petrakov took part in the pre-match press conference, answering questions from journalists.
Alexander Petrakov. Photo: G. Grigoryan- In the last game with Scotland, you were defeated. Did the absence of Alexander Zinchenko affect the final result?
— Sasha Zinchenko is the leader of our team. We missed him, but this is football life. He called me back and said that he had an injury. Sasha was disappointed that he would not help our team. But we have someone to replace him. At the moment, we do not have five main players, for us it is a lot. But other players will get a chance.
- Before the last match between the national teams of Ukraine and Armenia, at a press conference, a question was raised about why the Armenian team is not in solidarity with Ukraine about the war. Now the situation is the same in Armenia, there is a war going on. Will the Ukrainian team show solidarity towards Armenia?
— Our situation is very critical. In our country. When there is a war, it is very bad, people are dying on both sides. Our teams, we are all against war. We want it to be gone, so that all people live in peace and harmony. Nobody wants a war. Everything should be decided at the negotiating table.
My opinion: politicians never suffer - those people who make decisions. Neither they nor their children take part in the war. Ordinary people take part in the war. They die, but politicians do not suffer. We are for there to be no war.
- What did you fail in the match with Scotland?
- There are not so many performers in Ukraine, and when there are no three or four players, it's hard for us. The guys who took the field tried hard, but they are not yet ready to play at this level. We played against players who play in the English Premier League. This time they outplayed us. Outplayed in desire. Many of our guys were not ready, they were told about it, set it up, but this is the League of Nations - everyone has the right to make a mistake. This is football, sport.
- How do you assess your chances in the game against the Armenian team?
— I watched many matches of the Armenian national team, you have a good coach. You play at home, and now we always play away. I rate the chances 50/50.
— What is the personnel situation in the team? Are you ready to play Mikolenko?
- The personnel situation is good, the team now has 24 players: three goalkeepers and 21 field players. Eduard Sarapiy arrived at 5 in the morning. Mikolenko is healthy. All are healthy, all is well.
- Why did they call Sarapiy?
— We have 8 yellow cards. The next card - the player misses the match with Scotland. The game will be nervous, we need points, Armenia needs points. The coach must think ahead.
- Is the collection planned for November? Perhaps there will be friendly matches?
- In the month of August, I went to clubs and asked them to allow us to play two fights. 16 or 17 and 20 November. Everyone agreed, but then all the clubs refused me. The Ukrainian national team will not gather in November. The next gathering will be in March. How it will be - we do not know, and who will be.
