Kyiv Dynamo defender Oleksandr Karavaev shared in an interview with Dynamo.kiev.ua how he spent his winter vacation and his expectations for the second part of the current season.
Oleksandr Karavaev. Photo — Yu. Yuriev— Congratulations on the holidays and on returning from a vacation, which this time was very, very short. Much shorter than usual. Was this time enough — two weeks plus a little extra — to rest?
— Basically, it was enough. Yes, it’s a bit unusual, because before that the vacation lasted a month and a few days. Yesterday I was driving with my wife and she said: "Tomorrow you’re going to training camps and you won’t be around for so long." Unusual. Usually, we would rest a bit before New Year, then celebrate New Year, and spend time with family. After New Year, there were about 10 days to simply relax and do some things together. And here just a couple of days in January, and already it’s all over — we’re leaving.
Yes, it’s a bit unusual, but you can manage to rest. Generally, about two weeks is enough for that. If it’s longer, you don’t really know what to do, you want to run around, do some exercises. That is, you don’t want to just sit around for more than two weeks.
— Did you have enough time to reload emotionally?
— There is never enough time emotionally, because you want to be with your family all the time. But when you rest for a long time, say a month, then you want to work. That is, it’s better to rest more often and in shorter stretches than to take one long break.
— And in general, where did you rest?
— With family in Ukraine, we went to Western Ukraine. I have long dreamed of going specifically to the west, to see our landscape, the colors, the mountains. Because my wife was there last year with the children, she said she really liked it and wanted me to go too. Before, I couldn’t make it work, there was never enough time, and now finally it happened, and we went to the mountains.
— I suppose you made some conclusions for yourself regarding Dynamo's performance in the first half of the season? They were very ambiguous in terms of the difference in the results of the team on the domestic front and in the Europa League. How did it happen?
— It’s hard to answer simply. When you go out for a match in the Ukrainian championship, you understand that every point here is worth its weight in gold, because Dynamo hasn't won the championship for a long time, and we really want to bring the gold medals back to Kyiv.
And when you go to play in the European cups, you understand that it's even harder there. Yes, you also want to win there and gain points. But you analyze and, in some sense, draw parallels in that when our opponents in the Europa League travel for an away match against Dynamo in Hamburg, they fly for two or three hours to the city where the match is held and that’s it — they prepare for the match. And you take much longer to get to Hamburg. And this, one way or another, affects the performance. Sometimes people say that we use it as an "excuse", that we focus on travel, but no: this is simply an analysis that the conditions for the two teams are not entirely equal.
The match is on Thursday. In their championships, we and our opponent played on the same day, but we have two days less for recovery than the opposing team. And, of course, this has a significant impact.
This can be compared to a situation where in training camps you play your first friendly match against a team for which this sparring match is the last one in their preparation. They are already fully prepared, with their championship starting in a week, and you, it seems, want to and can, but it doesn’t work out for you. Because you are still not ready. And the opponents are simply quicker, stronger, and fitter. And you don’t understand how it can happen since the team playing against us is of middle-level.
— By the way, regarding logistics. Did the approach of stopping for one day in Lublin on your way to the location of the international match prove to be effective?
— Yes. It’s slightly better. More time for recovery. Because when you travel overnight by train, then you get up early in the morning (even not early in the morning, but you go through border control during the night), then arrive, drive an hour or an hour and a half to the airport, and then fly for two or three hours, afterward, you don’t even have a day to recover. Because this is a very large load on the body.
— This time, the preparation at the training camp will also be unusual, as it will be interspersed with the last two matches in the Europa League. Unfortunately, these meetings will already have no tournament significance. How's the motivation for these matches?
— Our motivation in these matches will be to maintain the image of the club, as these are official matches in any case. Moreover, our opponents will be motivated too, as they still have some tournament tasks.
There won’t be a situation where we will go onto the field thinking that these are unnecessary matches or some friendlies — no, these are official matches where we will be watched all over Europe. And therefore, we still have to maintain our brand, our level and even in these matches show that the previous results in the Europa League were a bad streak that we don’t want to return to. So we hope to have new opportunities in the European cups soon to show our higher level.
— You mentioned the club’s image and brand. Do you see it from the other side, does it mean anything for young Dynamo players?
— Yes, of course, they understand all of this. Just, maybe, they don’t perceive it so deeply yet. Or maybe, on the contrary, it weighs heavily on them, because it’s a burden: you are not just playing in some club, you are playing in the most famous club in our country and everyone, fans, experts and all others, expects positive results from you. And not just such results, but also a spectacular game. Therefore, you must meet these expectations. And when everyone "hates" you for a poor game or poor results, you not only have to cope with all that negativity, but also get ready for the match to then show better results and performance. Of course, this brings some nervousness.
But there is definitely no indifference. I see that all the guys in our team are professionals in their field and maximalists — they want to achieve the maximum result in every match. These guys wouldn’t be in Dynamo if they didn’t care.
Oleksandr POPOV
