On Wednesday, 17 April, the match of the 16th round of the Ukrainian championship between Minai and Dynamo Kyiv (1:3), which was postponed due to an air alert, was finished. The meeting was held in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy. Here is the post-match press conference of the teams' coaches.
Oleksandr SHOVKOVSKY, Dynamo head coach:
- I congratulate the fans with Dynamo on the victory. We finally played this match. A match with unusual responsibilities. As you know, in the previous match, against Oleksandriya, we had Voloshyn's suspension. However, today's match started back in December, and we received a letter with permission to use Nazar in it. But the match with "Polesie" he, of course, will have to miss.
Another peculiarity was that those players, who were in our starting lineup in December, and today will not be in it, can not be enlisted for the game.
Therefore, today there were some changes in our lineup. We gave an opportunity to play those who missed a lot. And, of course, we planned substitutions.
We prepared for this game, realising that now it is important for us to win every game. Now every game is the final for us.
- Why Brazhko was not there today?
- If you listened carefully to what I said at the press conference after the match with "Alexandria", you should remember that we have some infection in the team now. After the game with LNZ Nesheret fell ill, on the eve of the match with "Alexandria" Sirota had a high fever, and therefore he was excluded from our application. And after this match the same situation happened with Brazhko: he also had a high fever and therefore he was not able to play today.
Oleksandr Shovkovskiy. Photo — Y. Yuriev- What about Karavaev? He hasn`t appeared on the pitch for a long time...
- We have 24 field players and 4 goalkeepers in the team. Each of them proves their claims for a place in the starting lineup. It happens sometimes: Karavaev is now a little bit not in those conditions, which we expect. But he is in the clip and I considered the possibility to put him in the starting lineup today. But the decisive factor was the fact that if I had not released Tymchyk, I would not have been able to count on him in today's match.
- In the episode when Buschan ran far into the field, you grabbed your head. What were you thinking about then?
- In my opinion, our centre-backs should have played more responsibly and confidently in that episode. There was a big candle, the ball hung in the air for a long time. After that we were the first on the ball and it was possible to calmly play a header to the goalkeeper. That's why I had such a reaction: on an even place we could give a goal to the opponent.
- In the match with LNZ Dynamo had a great first half, but after the break they played very hard. Today the situation was repeated. Why is it like that?
- I have already asked myself this question. Indeed, today we played two different halves. In the first half we completely dominated, scored two goals, could score more, and in the second half we played the way Dynamo (Kyiv) has no right to play.
Photo — Y. YurievŽeljko Ljubenović, head coach of "Minaya":
- I congratulate Dynamo, a deserved victory. I want to thank my players for the game. The second half in our performance is the game that I want to see from "Minai" in every match, with every opponent.
Of course, we knew that Dynamo starts matches aggressively. We prepared for this game very seriously, but, unfortunately, we conceded a very quick goal. After that and till the end of the first half it was very hard for us.
- What words did you say to your team at halftime that they were so transformed in the second half?
- I told the guys to keep their hands up, to keep playing the same way. I told them that if we managed to score one goal, the game would change and we would have a chance to equalise. And so it happened. At 1:2 we had two hundred per cent chances. If we realised at least one of them, everything would have changed.
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy
