József Szabo: "The psychology of today's young footballers is not the same. There is no hardness of character, like real men"

Former head coach of Kyiv Dynamo József Szabó, commenting on the defeat of his former club from Obolon (0:1) in the 1/8 finals of the Ukrainian Cup, touched upon the topic of global problems that now exist in Ukrainian football.

- The only real sensation at this cup stage was the loss of Dynamo. It has not happened for many years that Dynamo have been eliminated before the quarterfinals.

I watched this match, and I can say this: there is no such game in Dynamo's performance, which its fans expect, which I expect. Well, there is none - that's all! Everywhere there is fighting, fighting, wrestling, tackling, tackles. Everything ends with the referee stopping the game and giving a yellow card. That's the game. What can you do? The Cup is the Cup - it's such a thing.

Dnipro-1 lost in the 1/8 finals, though, losing to the opponent in a penalty shootout. Some teams (and not only in our country, but also, say, in England) in cup matches put reserves, not considering this tournament a priority. But I do not think that Dynamo did not want to win against Obolon. But what happened happened. Maybe Dynamo players are like that, or maybe their psychology is like that.

- What do you think can change the situation for the better?

- Nothing will change. There is no money to buy a normal player for this or that position. And great foreigners won't come anyway. Although other clubs invite them - Shakhtar, Rukh.... True, they take such foreigners, who would not have been looked at before. But what can you do... So Dynamo will not take new players. Those who are in the roster are the ones who are there. That's why we need to play them. Now there is such a situation that all the teams - Dynamo, Shakhtar, Dnipro-1 - they are all the same. I noticed that the psychology of today's youth is not as we would like it to be.

- What exactly do you mean?

- There is no hardness of character, like real men. And the lack of skill, we see it every time. Take any team - look at how a player makes a pass. He runs with the ball and instead of passing it to his partner thirty metres into the open space, he keeps running. And only then, five metres away, does he pass. For me, it's wild!

And such an element as stopping the ball! From the player to whom it is addressed, the ball flies five metres, or even more! You have to take the ball, say, on the same chest on the flesh, but he takes it on the spine. It is the same when stopping the ball with the foot. You should take a "spring" approach in such cases. The same applies to the technique of goal kicks. They are often performed when the ball is not prepared for a proper kick - and flies far up. These are such disappointing cases.

Vyacheslav Kulchitsky