Former head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Oleksandr Hatskevich shared his thoughts on the Belarusian former White and Blue striker Ilya Shkurin, who is currently playing fantastic in the Polish league for Stal.
Alexander Hatskevich- Ilya Shkurin is currently conquering Poland - he has scored five goals in the last five matches. How can you explain this phenomenal performance of your countryman?
- Firstly, there is a very good understanding and interaction with individual players (the team captain Christian Hettinger gave three assists to Shkurin - ed. note), it is clear that they understand each other on the field.
Plus, the team itself plays in the style that suits Ilya. They play more on the counter-attack, as a second team. His performance has also been boosted by the "right to make a mistake", he no longer worries much about making a mistake, and this gives him confidence in his abilities.
- When did you first hear about Ilya? Have you met him somewhere?
- We didn't cross paths, but I knew that Belarus had such a striker, a more powerful one. He also played in Belarus in a team that played more counter-attacking football. When there is a Belarusian who attracts the attention of good clubs, of course, you start following him somewhere.
- How would you describe his style of play?
- Everyone, especially strikers, needs their own team. Perhaps today Ilya has found his team and is showing the level he has. He is a young guy, 24 years old, he has everything ahead of him. He has quite good press in Poland now.
A lot of Polish clubs that are a level higher and aim to reach European competitions are already looking at him as well. Why? Because in Poland, football itself is more power-based, and if you look at the teams, Legia Warsaw plays with one big striker, and if they change it, they get the same big forward who can tackle, dribble the ball, active flanks, a lot of crosses. Ilya likes this kind of football.
- Why, then, did Shkurin fail to play at Dynamo Kyiv?
- Dynamo Kyiv plays more positional football, it's not his style.
- Why did he, Ilya, end up at Dynamo and change teams so quickly?
- At the time Ilya joined the team, they played more positional football, which is not his strong suit. When you need to play subtly somewhere, to adjust to the wall.
Time and war affected many factors, including football. Legionnaires, if they stayed in Ukraine, are either from Brazil or African countries. Everyone else left the country.
- Ilya has been suspended from the Belarusian national team since 2020 because he refused to play for Lukashenko. Does his absence affect the national team's results much?
- The national team of Belarus has never been a trendsetter in European football, so the absence of one player would probably not have a major impact on the result of the entire team.
Andrii Shevchenko
