Former Dynamo Kyiv defender Temur Partskvania gave an interview toUV inwhich he spoke about famous characters in Ukrainian football.
Temur Parzvaniya- Temur, could you tell us where you are now?
- I currently live in the United States in Jacksonville, Florida. We moved here with my family seven months ago, before that we were in New York.
- How did you end up in the US?
- I was playing in Istiklol from Tajikistan, and my wife gave birth to a child in the States, so I asked the club to let me go. They were very understanding, paid me all my salary, and I left. For me, my family will always come first. My own sister is a US citizen, so we decided to settle here so that the child could get an American passport.
- Have you finished your football career yet?
- No, I haven't. At first, I kept fit in a semi-professional team from the UPSL. Now I play for the New Yorke Braveheart team and will soon try to get a new team from a stronger league. I live in Florida, but I travel to New York for games.
In America, the structure of soccer is completely different. I'm 32 years old and for them I'm already old, most of them don't even look at my uniform. For Americans, the main thing is age. Even at 23, you are too old for local football. Of course, this does not apply to world stars.
Most players in the United States come from colleges. Education here is quite expensive, but if you play well, the college covers your tuition.
- But Kryvtsov is 33 years old, and he was signed by Inter Miami.
- Don't compare the two. Serhii has played a lot of matches for the national team and in the Champions League. The US makes an exception for such players. Kryvtsov is a household name in football.
- You played with Kryvtsov in the Ukrainian youth national team. Have you met him in the United States?
- We haven't talked yet. It's a six-hour drive to Miami, but I'll definitely see him when I get a chance. I am very glad that he got to Inter Miami. They have a great project! Not every player gets to play in the same team as Messi, but Kryvtsov deserves it.
- What else do you plan to do?
- In the United States, I met a Ukrainian, Denys Pakharina, who is 23 years old. He played in the Academy of Dynamo Kyiv in high school. Together with him, we registered and opened a soccer school called Dynamo Jacksonville. This is in honor of my hometown club, which gave me the opportunity to play big-time football. There are a lot of Ukrainians living in Jacksonville, many of them call, write, and enrollment is in full swing.
- What age do you recruit boys?
- From the age of four.
- What do Americans say about the war in Ukraine?
- All my friends in the United States support Ukraine. These are Americans, Mexicans, and even Serbs. They were shocked that Russia attacked Ukraine. When Americans find out that I am from Ukraine, they immediately offer to help, everyone is very responsive.
- Now let's go through your career. Tell us how you came to Ukraine as a child from Georgia, and to the Dynamo Academy?
- My father and I decided to move to Ukraine when I was 14 years old. Since childhood, I had a dream of playing for Dynamo Kyiv. Kakha Kaladze, who got to AC Milan through Dynamo, was an example for me. My father took me to watch me at the Dynamo Academy, and I must have impressed the coaching staff with something, and they kept me.
Six months later, I received Ukrainian citizenship and at the age of 15 I was called up to the U-16 national team of Ukraine, coached by Anatoliy Buznik. At the age of 16, I was already playing for Dynamo's double, and half a season later I went to a training camp with the first team. I remember it like it is now. Everything happened very quickly.
I made my professional debut for Dynamo-2 against a fairly powerful opponent, CSKA. I was then released for the second half.
- Tell us, which of the future famous players did you start playing with at Dynamo, who was your friend?
- We had a serious team in the double. Yarmolenko, Zozulya, Kravets, Garmash, Kyrylo Petrov, Korkishko, Morozyuk, Oliynyk played there. We were in second place in the First League. Sometimes Aliyev and Milevsky were brought down from the first team when they were getting fit after injuries.
I communicated most of all with the guys born in 1990, with Dmytro Yeremenko. Davit Imedashvili, a Georgian, also played in Dynamo's second team at that time. We had a very friendly team. We always went for a walk in a group of 6-8 people.
- Were there any funny incidents during the parties: fights or when Surkis was reported?
- No, we didn't go out on such a level that we were drunk. We could go to the movies, a restaurant, a cafe. We also went to discos, but we always knew the right amount and never got caught. We never came to the base drunk.
- So, like Milevsky and Aliyev, you didn't party?
- No, they were on a different level. I think Aliyev and Milevsky went out just like the rest of the guys from the first team, they were just unlucky and were constantly caught. Everyone goes out, even in Europe, but no one sees them, and Sasha and Artem were caught.
- What were Aliyev and Milevsky like at that time?
- They were still young, but they were already being allowed to join the team. I remember when I was at the training camp with the first team, Milevsky told me a lot. He constantly came up and showed me how to do certain exercises correctly.
- Who was the coolest Dynamo-2 player at the time?
- It was immediately obvious that Yarmolenko had great talent. In addition, he was very hardworking. As a result, he achieved his goal, became the leader and captain of Dynamo. At first, Yarmolenko was not included in the first team, but he kept his head up, worked on himself and reached the level of the Premier League and the Ukrainian national team.
- Who was the biggest joker at Dynamo?
- Denys Harmash was responsible for our humor. Once we flew with the U-18 youth national team to a tournament in Ireland. At the airport, we were being searched, and Garmash decided to make a joke, saying that he had a bomb in his backpack. The security service took him for questioning, and the whole team was detained at the airport for several hours. Thank God, it was okay and everyone was released (laughs).
The gunner was constantly strange. He received a lot of unnecessary red cards and was fined for them. And the salaries in the double were small. I remember when Denys got red cards for three games in a row and on payday he got a penny. His entire salary went to pay off the fines for the red cards.
- And how much did the players of the double receive back then?
- When we first got to Dynamo-2, we were paid a scholarship, just like at the Academy. It was 330 hryvnias. Then they added a salary of 500 dollars, plus bonuses for winning - 200 dollars. We could live purely on the bonuses, because almost all the players lived at the base, and we didn't spend much money. And when we re-signed contracts, everyone had individual conditions.
- Can you remember what you spent your first salary on?
- My first salary, including the bonus, was $900. I gave most of the money to my father, and bought clothes for myself with the rest.
- Who was the biggest fashionista in the team, who bought branded clothes, etc.
- No one of our age could afford branded clothes for 200-300 dollars back then. Davit Imedashvili dressed in style. But he had a higher salary because he was signed for the first team and then sent to the second team. On payday, he could afford to spend two thousand dollars on branded clothes from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana.
I remember that on payday he took me to a restaurant and treated me to a lot of food. I will never forget this. We are still in warm communication. He works for the Georgian Football Federation and is in charge of the U-19 team.
- Yuriy Semin, who was then in charge of Dynamo, invited you to the first team training camp. How did it happen?
- The invitation to go to the training camp with the first team was unexpected for me. I had just turned 17 at the time. We finished the season with the second team, I was at the base, packing for vacation, and then I got a call from Kalytyntsev: "You worked well, you have talent, and we see that you can grow even more. Yes, there are mistakes, but you don't pay attention to them and keep working. That's why we want to send you to the training camp with the first team." Andrii Fartushniak also went with me at that time.
- Why couldn't you get a foothold in the first team?
- At that age, it's hard, it was almost impossible to stay. We just got to Dynamo-2 from children's football, and here we are right at the base! Moreover, the central defender is a very responsible position, there is no room for error. But for me it was an invaluable experience. I trained with the first team for two weeks, then returned to the double, but I felt much more confident. My first pass became much better.
At that time, Andriy Shevchenko had just returned to Dynamo. I even managed to train with him
- What was Shevchenko like then?
- Very modest. He didn't even raise his voice at anyone, just went out and did his job. Sheva was very worried when the team failed. He was also a professional during training. In general, he behaved with dignity, and he definitely did not have star disease. If he thought he was a king, he would not have reached such heights and would not have won the Ballon d'Or.
- Did you manage to communicate with Sheva?
- He talked less with young people and more with veterans like Shovkovsky and Vashchuk.
- Who else impressed you in the first team, what did you watch and think? "Wow, this is the level"?
- I watched the players of my position more. I really liked how Taras Mykhalyk played. He was a real fighter! But he was tormented by injuries. Then he couldn't keep up the same level, plus his age.
Mykhailyk was a simple guy in general. Everyone at Dynamo had fancy phones, but Taras was the only one with a simple, push-button phone. He always talked to the young people, came up to us, and gave us advice.
- And there were some low-level "passengers" in Dynamo that you would watch and think: "How did this guy end up here?"
- There were a few legionnaires who were not up to Dynamo's level. This affected the students who could have been given a chance. Those who received 20 times more money were released, and their own could wait. Unfortunately, all our big clubs had such a policy. I think it's wrong. Barcelona has a lot of academy players.
Who did not reach Dynamo's level? I don't want to name them. I can say that there were not stronger players in my position, but they played, not us.
- Do you mean Almeida?
- Yes, including him.
- And Yussuf?
- Yussuf was a very good footballer, I liked him. But he didn't always play because of injuries. He would play one game and then we wouldn't see him for a year because of injuries. Diakate was also good, but weaker than Mykhailyk.
The problem is that at that time Dynamo didn't even look at their youth. On the one hand, the Kyiv club can be understood, they needed a result, but when Rebrov came in, many students started playing. He gave everyone a chance. In our time, there was no such thing, and the team relied on legionnaires.
- Which of Dynamo's super talents failed to develop?
- There were many of them. The first one that comes to mind is defender Artem Butenin from the generation of Yarmolenko and Zozulya. He was a very smart defender, he was one of the first to be taken to Dynamo-2 from the Academy. It is a pity that Artem did not play at the adult level.
- What conversation with Semin do you remember?
- At the first training session, Semin called me and Fartushniak and said: "You are young guys. Work hard and don't worry, everything will be fine. Don't look at the older ones, don't be inferior to them and don't be shy. Everyone is equal at Dynamo." After the training camp, he called us again: "You did well, but you are still too young. Keep working, we are watching you."
- What kind of training did he do?
- Soviet-era coaches always put physical fitness first. But if you compare Semin and Gazzaev, it's heaven and earth. Gazzaev had very hard training sessions, I've never seen anything like it in my life. I am a hardy footballer, I can run a lot, but even I had a very hard time with Gazzayev.
Under him, Dynamo had three training sessions a day. The first one included physics, exercises with and without the ball. After the second training session, we were completely exhausted, and he made us run cross-country for a while. We ran for 15 minutes without stopping and kept the pace at 70-80% of the maximum.
It was hard for Milevsky, as well as for the Brazilians. I remember that we had already finished the race, and the Brazilians came running only five minutes later. But no one said anything to them.
- Was Gazzaev very strict?
- He was quite strict. Discipline was always with him and Semin. Gazzayev could shout at a training session, but there were no conflicts with anyone, only working moments.
- Was there any hazing at Dynamo?
- No, no one forced anyone to go shopping, and I wouldn't have allowed it. If the young people went to the store themselves, they could buy something for the elders at a cultural, respectful request.
- You lived on the base. Were there any funny stories there, maybe you brought girls?
- There was definitely no such thing. Everything was very strict at Dynamo. There were guards at the gate, and women cleaners were on duty inside the base. It was unrealistic to sneak someone in.
- Legionnaires played in the double with you: Temile and Diego Suarez. What can you say about them?
- I even shared a room with Diego several times during the training camp in Cyprus. He was a good guy, though he did not understand the language. I had to communicate with him with gestures (l aughs).
Suarez didn't even rent an apartment, he lived at Dynamo's base, he was a true professional. He had his own coach, Alvaro. After the evening training, they always stayed and played through the net.
- Why didn't he play in the first team then?
- Suarez came very young, and at that time Dynamo had a strong team. Diego is not a prodigy, but he is a hard worker. He played very well at Dynamo-2 under Kalytyntsev and Lytovchenko when he got fit. I don't know what happened to him later.
At Dynamo, a lot of people didn't play. Andre was bought for a lot of money, but he disappeared. Many were loaned out.
I am happy with the current Dynamo because a lot of my guys play in the first team. There is no result yet, but I think it will come over time. Look at Buyalsky and Shaparenko. These are the leading players now.
