Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Vladislav Kabaev gave a lengthy interview on the VDynamo YouTube channel and answered questions from the fans. Here is a fragment of the interview.
Vladislav Kabaev- A few months ago, Buyalsky gave me some advice during training: "don't hit hard", "the main thing is accuracy". When we stayed after training, I saw that he hit eight out of ten shots to the nine. And I hit, and I can hit three out of ten. And recently he came up to me and said: "I thought you were young - 20 or 21. But I opened Wikipedia and saw that you are 28 years old. Roughly speaking, you're only a year younger than I. I apologise for teaching you." Many people really think I'm 20-21 years old. The guys joke that I sleep in a cryosauna.
- It is quite rare for players from UPL clubs over the age of 25 to join Dynamo. As a rule, the club's selection team is more active in monitoring younger players. Don't you think that your invitation to Dynamo is a reward for your work in previous clubs - 100 matches for Zorya and 50 matches for Chornomorets?
- I am overly self-critical. The first thing that led to my transfer was circumstances. When the full-scale war started, three legionnaires who played in my position - de Pena, Vitinho, Verbych - left Dynamo. Although there were good players in this position at other clubs, they chose me, which means I deserved it. I wanted to get to Dynamo very much. And even when I was a Zorya player under Skrypnyk's coaching, I played well against Dynamo. I was good friends with Tymchyk. I didn't know Mykolenko personally, but I was told that he spoke well of me. That's why two years before this transfer, I was already dreaming of coming here.
- How did your childhood passion for football begin?
- Like everyone else, I started playing in the yard - we used to put some bricks instead of goalposts. I really appreciate my parents, because I lived in the countryside, but they were able to take me to Odesa to the football section. Although I started with swimming, I quickly realised that it was not for me, as I was very cold in the water.
Then my mother enrolled me in a chess section. But now I hardly remember how to play. I found it boring.
Finally, my mother brought me to the football section. At first, I wasn't very good at it. When you play in the yard, you don't have a coach, and you do whatever you want on the field. You can even play with a sandwich in your hand. And then another kind of football started - you have to play in winter, when it's cold, you freeze. Besides, they tell you what to do. I didn't make up any more excuses not to go, for example, that my stomach hurt. In the summer, after school, I wanted to go out and talk to girls. But my mum still dragged me to football. I would come home, throw my school bag, immediately take another bag with my training uniform, get in the car, and we would drive to the football section. In fact, I had no childhood. But now I am grateful to my mother and father for seeing these abilities in me. Although at first the coaches said: "Take him away, he won't be any good".
But back then I didn't even understand how everything works in adult football, I probably never even watched football on TV, but for some reason I liked playing with the ball. But a lot of guys went to Chornomorets matches. I asked my mum to take me to a match, and that was it - I looked at football from a different angle. I saw that it was a real hard work. And now I'm grateful that I have such a job, that I play and get paid for it, and at the same time I enjoy this work.
- When you started following football, what clubs did you like as a child besides Chornomorets?
- Manchester United, because Cristiano Ronaldo played there, and AC Milan. My first shirt was with Kaka's name and number 22 on the back. And it so happened that this number has been with me throughout my life. We went to kilometre 7, and then a lot of T-shirts of different teams and famous players were sold there.
- What was your main dream as a child?
- When you are 18 years old, you think differently. But at an earlier age, I had only one option - that I would be a footballer. There was no other plan, only plan A - that I would be a footballer. No matter how hard it was. Maybe I didn't see myself playing in any superclubs, but I definitely saw myself at Chornomorets and was sure that I could do it.
