Acting head coach of Luhansk Zorya Yuriy Koval has told what he expects from his team's match against Icelandic Breidablik in the final, sixth round of the group stage of the Conference League.
Yuri Koval"It's going to be a tough game. Yes, the opponent has finished the championship, and he does not play any calendar matches. But for one match the team can always be prepared. "Breidablik is a good enough team. Today there are no clubs that are not technical or ready. There are specialists working everywhere. The Icelandic national team has excelled in world tournaments. Therefore, the game will be difficult.
It is important how much patience our players still have. There is strength, there is skill, but with Maccabi and Ghent we lacked patience to work against the ball, when first the opponent had the ball, and then we had to conduct our own attacks.
The fact that our players are motivated is a fact (the upcoming match has no tournament significance for Zorya, it has lost its chances of getting out of the group - ed. note). Firstly: it is the prestige of the country, it is the points, which helps more teams to play in European cups sooner or later. Secondly, it is the prestige of the players. Thirdly: it's the bonuses paid to the club for winning. I hope that the players who will take to the pitch will do their best to win.
Holiday mood? The professionalism of the coach is to see players who are already tired psychologically or physically. Although, in my opinion, everything is in the players' heads. The number of matches played by the world's leading players shows that everything depends on the mentality, on the desire. The holiday mood should be when a player has already taken his suitcase and left. If there is no optimal state in the game, then it is already a coaching issue. Then we need to find only motivated ones," Koval said at the pre-match press conference.
