On Sunday, May 18, in the match of the penultimate, 29th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv’s «Dynamo» played a 1:1 draw with Odesa’s «Chernomorets» and prematurely secured the golden medals. The match took place in Odesa at the «Chernomorets» stadium. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coach of the capital team Alexander Shovkovskiy.
— I congratulate all the fans of «Dynamo» on the 30th championship title. We have traveled a difficult path; it has not been easy throughout this period. I am grateful to everyone at the club, everyone who contributed to this victory, everyone who supported us. And to all who «hated» us — they motivated us to be even more driven.
One of the problems during the team’s preparation for today’s match was to emotionally recover the team after the Cup final against «Shakhtar».
On one hand, three days is enough for that. But on the other hand, some experts told us that during the regular time of the match against «Shakhtar», we covered 96 kilometers. So, we ran 115 km. Just so you understand. And another approximately 30 km in extra time.
So after that match, a full recovery was needed. Only then could we prepare the team for today’s match.
We understood perfectly well what awaited us against a team that was fighting to preserve its place in the UPL. And therefore we understood that there would be a fight. A tough fight. For both «Chernomorets» and for us, because we were fighting for the championship — that was the price of this game for us.
Alexander Shovkovskiy. Photo — A. Popov— Earlier, Yarmolenko allowed other players of the team to take penalties. Today, however, he took the responsibility upon himself. Was such a moment discussed before the match, considering the emotionally difficult series of post-match penalties in the Cup final against «Shakhtar»?
— We never discuss this. Penalties are taken by those who feel confident in themselves. So today, that was the team’s decision. And, of course, Andriy’s decision.
— Do you think that the infrastructure of the «Chernomorets» stadium deserves to host matches for the Super Cup of Ukraine again, like before?
— God willing, these matches will start to be held again... But a city like Odesa should have its representative in the UPL. So it’s a loss for the Ukrainian championship.
But football is football. And even for teams from million-plus cities, even for teams whose stadiums have good infrastructure, everything is decided exclusively on a sporting principle.
Chernomorets now, of course, will have a very difficult task next season, but I am confident that the team will cope with it and return to the UPL.
— Is there any celebration of the championship planned for today?
— It’s hard to celebrate on the bus. We will only be getting to Kyiv for 6 hours. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the team will have days off. We thought about giving one day off, but then we decided on two. So for now, I can’t answer the question about the celebration. Especially, what kind of celebration, when the country is at war?
So I congratulate the «Dynamo» fans on the championship once again. We have been striving for this for a whole year. I thanked all the players. I wish everyone that peace comes to our country as soon as possible, this war ends, the stadiums are fully filled, and the fans, coming to them, simply enjoy the game, not thinking about anything. And today I wish everyone a quiet, calm, peaceful evening. Glory to Ukraine!
Post-match press conference of the head coach of «Chernomorets» Alexander Kuchер.
Alexander POPOV from Odesa
