Taras Mykhalyk is a former player of Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukrainian national team. Recently, the 39-year-old has not played professionally, but has switched to coaching. Mykhalyk worked with Volyn and now keeps fit in charity matches and does volunteer work.
Taras Mikhalik"There were offers to work as a coach, but I want to visit the guys at the front"
- Taras, you recently played in a charity match against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yevhen Selezniov, Oleksandr Aliev, Artem Fedetskyi, Vasyl Kobin played in the same team as you. Do you have a feeling that you could all still play professionally?
- No, we have already played our time at the professional level. As they say, make way for the young. Now there is someone to play, and we are already playing friendly, charity matches. Sometimes we play in the Volyn Oblast Championship. At least, Artem Fedetskyi and I play in the same team and keep fit.
- In general, what is Taras Mykhalyk doing today?
- If we talk about his profession, he used to be a coach in Volyn. When the team split up, there were offers to go and help out in different teams. But it doesn't work out, because my family is abroad, and I'm constantly travelling to the front line. If you play football, you have to devote time to the team all the time. It can't be that you go to the frontline for 3-4 days, and the team lives on its own without you. At the very least, we want to visit the guys at the front line at least twice a month. To drive the vehicles and bring some things they ask for. That's why I've had several offers, but I didn't respond to them, because I want to coach, but at the same time I understand that it won't work out that way.
"At first, at Dynamo, I communicated more with the legionnaires"
- When you joined Dynamo, Anatolii Demianenko was the head coach. Under his leadership, the team won all the titles in 2007. What was his secret?
- We had a pretty good team then, a mix of youngsters and veterans. Rebrov, the late Belkevych, Serhii Fedorov, Diogo Rincon... I was open-mouthedly watching people I had only seen on TV in the Champions League. Demyanenko, in my opinion, is a good coach. But then we didn't do well in the Champions League and he left the team.
- Dynamo had a lot of legionnaires at the time, but you were winning the competition with them and had game practice. Who was your main rival and who was your best friend?
- I can't say about competition, the coach always chose the team for the game and he knew better who was better prepared. Back then, the squad was quite strong, and when I was put in the line-up or played for 15 minutes, every match was a blessing for me. At that time I was still playing as a centre-back, more in the centre of the pitch, and already under Semin I was made a central defender, I had never played in this role before. And then I was more of an attacking player. I remember that in addition to Rincon, there were Ruslan Rotan, Carlos Correa, Valik Belkevych in the centre of the pitch, and the competition was quite serious.
But once Sabo told me: "You take it and give it to Valik Belkevych". I remember I had a problem with my knee, and I said: "Jožef Jožefović, I can't hit the ball further than two metres, my leg hurts". And he said to me: "Can you run? Can you pick it up? Then give it to Belkevych". I remember we played Sporting. They rewound my knee, gave me an injection, and I played that game like that, taking it away and giving it back. Whatever task was set, I performed it.
And the team was pretty good back then. There was a lot of choice in the centre of the pitch. The coach trusted me, and I remember the phrase that everyone loves to play the piano, but someone else needs to carry it. So I was the one who carried it.
- You shared a room with Florin Chernat, right?
- Yes, during the training camp. We became friends. In general, I joined the team and started communicating more with the legionnaires than with the Ukrainians.
- What about the language barrier?
- They all spoke some language, some worse, some better. Rincon, Chernat, Badr Kaddouri. There were also Havrančić, Sablić, and Leko. I talked to them, and then somehow started to communicate more with Ukrainians. The legionnaires tried to get me to join the team somewhere. They said: "Let's go out somewhere, you live on the base?". Even though I had lived in Kyiv before, playing for CSKA, I didn't have time for walks.
- Together with Dynamo, you played in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. Which match from that journey do you remember most often?
- I didn't play with Shakhtar because I got injured. I played with Metalist, and I remember the match with them in Kharkiv. It was a shame with Shakhtar, we had equal chances, but Shakhtar took advantage and then won the UEFA Cup, while we did not. This is football, it happens.
"Blokhin should work better with the national team: he is a motivational coach"
- There were many legends about Oleg Blokhin at Dynamo. How did he communicate with the legionnaires?
- Blokhin was a great footballer. I never noticed how he communicated with the legionnaires. Probably, there is some truth in the fact that Rebrov talked to them more. Because Rebrov knows English almost perfectly. Blokhin had his own strengths. But I never paid attention to which of the coaches communicated with the players and how they spoke to them.
- In general, how was it working with Blokhin? They say he has a difficult personality.
- But it was fine. There were different moments, just like with every other coach. But it's a passed stage. In my opinion, it is easier for him to work in the national team. Because he is a motivational coach. In the national team, there is no time to study, research and so on. They need results right away. And in this format, Blokhin was very effective.
- The Ukrainian national team, for which you played for six years, always had a great atmosphere. But what happened in the team's dressing room after the defeat to England at Euro 2012?
- That disallowed goal... Remember: The Donbass Arena was completely packed, the European Championships... there was just silence in the dressing room. No one quarreled. Everyone understood everything. Everyone was sitting quietly.
- How did you move on from this defeat over time?
- Yes, we went to clubs and switched. What I like about legionnaires is that they play a game and after an hour they don't think about it anymore. Although, in my opinion, it's not very right. But it's the way they do it. People have lost a game, re-adjusted and know that they need to prepare for the next one. For me, it's strange: you lose a game, you walk away laughing, and fans come up to you. It's a little bit wrong. You should analyse the game as soon as possible and put it behind you. Don't drag it out for a week and think about how bad it was. Because the next game is coming up, and you haven't moved on from the last one. Legionnaires get over it much faster. I don't know why, maybe it's the mentality. But it is a fact.
- As part of the youth team led by Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, you were able to win silver medals at Euro 2006. Oleksandr Rybka and Dmytro Chygrynsky are still playing with that team. After the final, did you have a feeling that this was the beginning of a great career?
- I had already gone to Euro 2006, having signed a contract with Dynamo. But there were no such feelings. We were happy to get into the top three, and when we lost in the final, we were upset, of course. It's very hard to stop a step away from the championship. It was too early to think about a career. We just enjoyed playing in that European Championship. Especially as many of our migrant workers came to support us.
"There is no question of Volyn returning to professional football"
- You finished your career in Volyn. What's happening with the club now? Will it return to professional status?
- There is no question of returning to professional football at all now, because the investor has refused to finance the club. I don't know what will happen next. Now there is a children's school, but the club has ceased to exist. There were talks like "Maybe we should go to the Second League so that we don't lose the team?", but it didn't go any further. When I was working with Shakhovyi, we coached mostly young people. I liked to pass on my experience to them, but it happened as it did.
It's a shame, but now there is a war in the country and it's hard for clubs to survive. It's not really up to football now, although the military invite us and we come to run with them. They say: "It's important for us". Especially those guys who come from the front line. It helps them a lot morally.
Danylo VEREITIN
