Exclusive. Yuriy Maksimov: "All of us first of all root for our main team - the AFU"

In an interview with Dynamo.kiev.ua, former Dnipro-1 head coach Yuriy Maksimov talked about his plans for the future and also shared his impressions of the recent performances of the Ukrainian national team and Dynamo Kyiv.

- Yuri, Vilievich, how are you doing, what are you doing now?

- I'm on vacation. As they say, I am on sabbatical.

- Your last team, Dnipro-1, withdrew from the competition, but the club itself has not been liquidated. What is going on with it now, if anything at all?

- I have no such information. In principle, this is not a question for me, but for the people who are related to the club.

- Not so long ago there was information in the media that you had options to work in Azrbaijan. Is it true?

- Yes, I was invited. Right after I left Dnipro-1. They called me to the team with which I won the Cup of Azerbaijan ("Keshlya", under Maksimov's leadership became the winner of the Cup of Azerbaijan in the season-2017/18 - ed.). Now there is an option with another team. I am still thinking about this variant, so I do not see the point in naming the team.

- So there is no question that you aim to work exclusively in Ukraine?

- Of course, I would like to continue working in Ukraine, not to go anywhere. But the main thing is that we are talking about a club with tasks for more than one day. There should be a base, training fields, conditions for work and, most importantly, strategic goals. I don`t want to come somewhere to say goodbye after six months.

- If we talk about the options of work in Ukraine, it should be a UPL club, or in case of an interesting offer, are you ready to work with a club of the First League?

- I worked in the Second League, with Zvyagel. So the division doesn't matter. The main thing is to do what you like and, I repeat, to have a club with goals and objectives.

- Let's talk about the Ukraine national team. How do you like the match with Georgia?

- I liked our national team in this match. It was immediately obvious that the guys came to the game "hungry", it was obvious that the team wanted to achieve a result. Well done. I am very pleased with what I saw. Now, when we are all going through such a period, any victory is worth its weight in gold. Soccer is almost the only joy that we have left. All of us, first of all, root for our main team - the VSU, but we also root, of course, for the national team of Ukraine.

- The other day was 25 years of the match with Russia and Shevchenko's phenomenal goal against Filimonov. What are your memories of that match?

- Twofold. On the one hand, we drew and got out of the group in the playoffs. On the other hand, in the end, we did not get to the European Championship - we did not fulfill the main goal. But if we had beaten Russia then, we would have finished in first place in the group and would have gotten a direct ticket to the Euros.

Plus, my personal unpleasant circumstances were superimposed on it: before the play-off with Slovenia for Euro-2000 I got a fracture of my arm and I couldn't help our national team. I arrived, I was in the team's location, but I watched the matches with Slovenia from the sidelines....

- If we talk about that goal of Shevchenko, did he really hit the goal?

- No, he was shooting! Where to hit. Do you remember where he took that free kick from? From the very side of the league. Sabo put the ball, Shevchenko shot. So it was definitely a feed, not a shot.

- It is impossible not to touch upon the topic of Dynamo. How do you like the game of Shovkovskiy's team at the start of the current season?

- A good game, a good team. But I do not want to say more, it is not in my competence and it is incorrect towards my colleague: everyone should speak only for his team. Especially since only the coach owns the situation 100%, because only he is inside the team.

- And if you just take a look from the outside? What is the strength of this Dynamo?

- In my opinion, first of all, in the fact that the team consists of almost only Ukrainians.

- Yes, but in the European cups it comes out in a bad way....

- Somewhere there is a lack of skill and experience. When you constantly play in European cups, you gain invaluable experience and improve your skills, and then you come to such matches in a completely different way.

But we have to start from the main thing - from our situation. There has been a full-scale war in the country for almost three years. That's why we have to play with our own forces - no quality legionnaire will come to us now. Remember what our leading clubs were like in peacetime. They were staffed with the best Ukrainian players and qualified legionnaires. The level of our championship was completely different - the competitive process was fundamentally different. Therefore, the results of performance in European cups were also more successful.

Plus, now all our clubs in the European cups, firstly, play only away, and, secondly, face difficult logistics - a lot of traveling, which takes a lot of energy.

Therefore, there is no choice now: we need to educate our youth and rely on their strength. However, of course, there is another situation: you bring up, bring up, and then he goes to a foreign club. But this is also natural.

- Then who can Dynamo take points in the Europa League from the remaining opponents? "Roma", "Ferencvaros", "Victoria", "Galatasaray", "Real Sociedad", RFH....

- Soccer is an unpredictable game. Any team can play better today and worse tomorrow. So it is too early to ask questions in such pessimistic tones. Moreover, Dynamo has a lot of matches ahead, you yourself have listed the opponents. Even about the match with Roma I wouldn`t say anything unambiguous. It often happens that the stronger the opponent is, the better you play. Competent play on the counterattack can bring success with almost any opponent. And vice versa, if the opponents are a team of about your level, you start to "invent" something, and the match does not work out.

- "Shakhtar" is also not shining in Europe, and at the same time is stalling in the championship. Can we assume that Dynamo have a good opportunity to beat the Pitmen on October 27 in the 11th round of the Ukrainian championship?

- How can I know that? I just want to have an interesting game. With struggle and intrigue, as it often happened before in the matches between Dynamo and Shakhtar. But, again, do not forget that there is a war in the country. People do not care about soccer. And this will remain in the foreground, no matter how this or that match turns out.

Oleksandr POPOV