The former winger of the Ukrainian national team Yevhen Konoplyanka recalled the period of his career when he was not called up to the national team.
Yevhen Konoplyanka— When Ruslan Rotan called you up, was it a surprise?
— The first unexpected surprise was that Rotan accepted the national team. After that, I still saw myself on the lists — it was doubly unexpected and pleasant. Many wrote about it. But it would have been one thing if they called a player who came with plus 4 kilograms and an e-cigarette in his teeth. I arrived with the same ambitions as before. As far back as I can remember, I was always ready to give it my all for the national team.
I talked to both Rotan and Kravchenko after the match. They said they felt sorry that I only played two minutes. They mentioned that they planned to field me from the first minutes, but that’s how things turned out. Because I was in pretty good shape then. I felt good. Everything was fair there, not because we played together. If I had been in bad shape, I would have said myself that I would already finish in Poland, I can't run, I don't want to embarrass myself. I was hungrier than before. Because I know I hadn't been called for a long time. At first, there were injuries, and then Petrakov. Who did he coach there, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan?
— Armenia.
— Armenia? This is how he coached our players. I wasn't lucky with injuries. That's why I tell players now that they need to recover very well. If I had done everything, I would have had fewer injuries. But then I thought: «I will go home, everything will be fine, my body will recover by itself». But it doesn't work that way. And that's why now we will tell the guys about this moment. If you have injuries, you are immediately not needed by anyone. Because life in football changes very quickly. Today you play, tomorrow an injury, a competitor comes in, shows himself — and you are already in the second team.
Darina Kalinchuk
