On Sunday, October 26, in a home match of the 10th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv «Dynamo» defeated Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 4:0. The match took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Here is the post-match press conference of the guest team’s head coach Patrick van Leeuwen.
Patrick van Leeuwen. Photo — Yu. Yuriev— Throughout the week, we were anticipating the match against one of the best teams. In the first half, there was too much respect from our side towards the opposing team. Therefore, we didn’t show all the aggression or the quality of our players.
During the break, we talked to the team, and in the second half, we tried to change the situation and act more aggressively. We created opportunities, but not as many as we wanted. Nevertheless, we aimed to rectify the situation.
We made substitutions, put young players on the field to show their quality and what they can bring to our team’s game. But we conceded a fourth goal...
We played nine good matches, were at the top of the tournament table, and today’s match showed us that we need to prepare better for strong opponents. We learned this lesson, we are going home and will continue to work to improve our team.
— Kryvyi Rih is very close to the front line. How do you manage to cope with this situation, and does it affect your preparation for matches?
— At the moment, there is more noise in Kyiv than in Kryvyi Rih. So we have the opportunity to prepare well. Yes, there are air raid sirens, but we try to prepare the team as best as possible. The foreign players also strive to prepare positively in this situation and to respond to it accordingly.
Post-match press conference of Dynamo head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi
