The swamp question, or How Petrakov framed not only himself, but also Pavelka

For several days now, the Ukrainian football community has been actively discussing the decision of the head coach of the Armenian national team, Oleksandr Petrakov, who previously led the national team, to invite four football players who have contracts with Russian clubs to the next match of his team. It even got to the point that "heavyweights" such as Jozef Szabo and Leonid Buriak appeared on the media pages, who made it clear that their colleagues were shocked by such a personnel decision.

But what is more in the act of the ex-coach of the national team of Ukraine - slander or banal managerial stupidity? Let's try to understand better and keep a cool head as much as possible.

Let's start with how Petrakov ended up in the national team of Armenia in the first place? As it is known, before being appointed to the post of coach of the national team of Ukraine, Oleksandr Vasyliovych had practically no experience of serious work at the adult level. It all came down to short-term cooperation with CSKA Kyiv double, as well as Spartak with Sum and Vinnytsia. From 2010 to the summer of 2021, Petrakov worked with the youth national teams of Ukraine of various ages, where he achieved serious success, including becoming the U-20 world champion in 2019.

Petrakov got the position of head coach of the Ukrainian national team after the departure of Andrii Shevchenko and an invitation from the president of UAF Andrii Pavelek. It was the latter, according to rumors that look more than credible, that later contributed to the appointment of Oleksandr Vasyliovych as the coach of the national team of Armenia. Thus, to some extent, Pavelko became the "godfather" of Petrakov's career outside his native country, because until his 65th year, the specialist had never "tasted" legionary bread.

But one recommendation from Pavelka for full-fledged cooperation between the Football Federation of Armenia and Oleksandr Petrakov was, of course, not enough. As a minimum, a Ukrainian specialist should have been present and consented to this work. And he, being a professional, simply had to study the entire situation in which Armenian football is, including its elite players. Allowing the possibility that Petrakov made the decision to lead the Armenian national team without a detailed analysis of this team is simply not possible, because in this case it is not even possible to talk about a professional approach.

In other words, already in January, Petrakov perfectly understood what he would have to face. And he could not help but understand that the leading roles in the current national team of Armenia will be those footballers who have contracts with clubs that represent the swampy territory that stretched over most of the Eurasian continent.

The 34-year-old ex-leader of the Armenian national team, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, announced the end of his international career at the beginning of March last year, and therefore Petrakov needed to look for new leaders and role models for the national team of this country. And among those who are potentially capable of such, there are three representatives of Russian clubs - Eduard Spersyan from Krasnodar, Khoren Bayramyan from Rostov and Nair Tiknisyan from Lokomotiv Moscow. The three of them are also among the top 7 most expensive football players of our time with an Armenian passport, and the 22-year-old Sperstyan, who is exclusively a product of the Krasnodar academy, is at the top of the list.

To imagine that Petrakov will refuse the challenge of Spersyan, Bayramyan and Tiknisyan only on the basis of the fact that these footballers perform in the swamps is only possible if we proceed from the Ukrainian understanding of the situation. But in Armenia, everything is completely different, there is no war with Russia, and this country is not considered by the vast majority of the population as an enemy. Therefore, it would be unlikely for Petrakov to carry his statutes to a foreign monastery, and the leaders would not allow him to do such a thing.

Almost immediately after the appointment of Petrakov, the ex-coach of Kamian "Stal" Yegishe Melikyan, who currently works in his homeland with "Pyunik", noted that Oleksandr Vasyliovych will have an incredibly difficult time, especially in the first months. In fact, the coach has to build a new team, and in the first official match, the Armenians will face a fundamental duel with Turkey, which politically supports Azerbaijan, which has territorial disputes with Armenia.

Without Spertsyan, Bayramyan and Tiknisyan, Armenia's chances for a potentially successful start in qualifying for Euro-2024 would seem absolutely illusory, although with these three footballers, Petrakov's wards will have to hope for a miracle and the support of the native stands in order to take points from the favorite. Petrakov could never justify the non-challenge of these players, and nothing. Let's not hurt our souls: in Armenia, no one would listen to Oleksandr Vasiliovych if he suddenly spoke about his civic position and "sense of duty", which urged him to give up the vice-presidents of Russian clubs in the national team.

But in general, Petrakov should have perfectly understood what he was going for. Yes, Oleksandr Vasyliovych often showed his principled position, especially in communication with Ukrainian journalists at press conferences, but in general he was always considered a rather convenient figure for top football management. Someone with a very well-developed imagination could imagine that Petrakov, having gone to work abroad for the first time in his career, would suddenly change dramatically and start literally fighting with the bosses of the Football Federation of Armenia for the absence of football players from Russian clubs in the team, but not someone who is well acquainted or monitors the actions of this coach.

Actually, this did not happen. Petrakov summoned those whom he had to summon. He simply had no other choice. And this became obvious even when the Ukrainian went to work in Armenia. And here is his "patron", which, considering everything, Andrii Pavelko acted, Oleksandr Vasyliovych made a great stand.

It turns out that Pavelko contributed to the appointment of Petrakov to the national team of Armenia, and he, in turn, will help develop careers at the international level for football players who play in the aggressor country - a state that sends hundreds of its fighters to foreign lands every day with the aim of seizing territories , killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. Did Andriy Vasyliovych think, when he pleaded for Oleksandr Vasyliovych, that the situation would turn out exactly like this? Hardly, because the president of UAF currently has another headache, but why Pavelka's numerous advisers and assistants did not inform his boss that the story surrounding Petrakov in the national team of Armenia will have an extremely bad image in terms of image is a question, the answer to which remains open.

However, Pavelka has not been used to being in, to put it mildly, spicy situations lately, and therefore such an insignificant image puncture as the one surrounding Petrakov in Armenia, probably will not even be seriously considered at the top of the UAF. After all, Andriy Vasyliovych can always declare that the rumors about his lobbying for Petrakov are a banal fake, as well as completely reject the personnel choice of the current coach of the national team of Armenia.

But Petrakov... It is difficult to say what exactly, apart from money, Oleksandr Vasyliovych plans to take with him from Armenia. A colossal and unprecedented experience? No. A chance to play at the top level? April 1 is still a few weeks away, so let's wait with bad humor. Perhaps an attempt to promote the interests of Ukraine in a region where our troubles are not as well known for political reasons as in most civilized countries of the world? We would like to hope for at least this, but already the first "swallows" say not in favor of this version... Well, in the end, everyone has their own way, and the one who will be responsible for promoting the international career of Spersyan, Bayramyan and Tiknisyan, let him think for himself how to justify himself for this in his homeland. Unless, of course, he wants to make excuses at all, rather than once again start making up stories about how everyone supposedly hates him, which ultimately make life easier by negating the need to explain his actions to the general public.

Oleksiy SLIVCHENKO