The goalkeeper of Kyiv’s «Dynamo U-19» Vyacheslav Surkis shared his impressions of the victorious away match against Poltava’s «Vorskla U-19» (3:0) in the 19th round of the youth championship.
Vyacheslav Surkis (in the center)— Vyacheslav, first of all, congratulations on your birthday, we wish you further progress, victories in «Dynamo» football and in the future of the Ukrainian national team. Surely, it is pleasant for every footballer to win on their birthday. How easy was the game for the team?
— Thank you for the congratulations! In the first half, we didn’t play very well, so it ended with a score of 0:0. At halftime, we received instructions from the coach, and for the second half, we came out with a completely different mood. In the first 10 minutes of the half, we scored two goals and already had complete control of the game.
— What did the coaches specifically point out at halftime that needed to be changed?
— We needed to move the ball faster, play more forward to create more chances and convert the opportunities created — something that was lacking in the first half.
— Igor Kostiuk said that in the first half the field was frozen. How much did this affect the game?
— To be honest, the field was not in the best condition; this stadium has an old generation synthetic turf. Added to this were the weather conditions — snow that fell the day before. So, in the first half, the field was heavy. In the second half, it got a little better when the sun came out, the ball was moving faster, so it was much easier for us. Besides, after the break, we played not against the sun as we did in the first half.
— In the last round, «Shakhtar» lost points. In this round, the «miners» have not yet played, so «Dynamo» has temporarily leveled on points with the leader. Is the entire fight for the championship ahead?
— Of course. We remember last year’s example when we came out of the winter break trailing by -4. Three points — is essentially nothing. To catch up with «Shakhtar», we just need to win in the direct encounter. Step by step, we are calmly moving towards our goal — our second consecutive championship. We will be focused on every game, no matter who the opponent is, we will do everything possible not to lose points before the game with «Shakhtar», to win in the head-to-head match and hope that the opponent will lose points somewhere. I think they will stumble somewhere.
— You went through training camps with the first team. What did this give you primarily, in what have you improved?
— I gained confidence, a little in skill, because you progress when you train for a month and a half with players like Andriy Yarmolenko, who has been playing at a top level for so many years, under the guidance of a very good goalkeeper coach who shares his experience. I’m training, working on myself, gaining confidence every day.
