Last season, I had the honor of commentating on the final of the Youth Football League. I was surprised that the final part was represented by two Kryvbas teams — players born in 2009 and 2010. We all understand the specifics of the city of Kryvyi Rih, which is practically on the frontline. Many parents want to move their children to safer cities for living.
Maris AlexandrisIn the summer, a large part of Kryvbas’s talents ended up in other teams. Zhdamyrov and Shvets became LNZ players. Ryabin moved to the Dynamo Academy. Chukhraev became a Shakhtar player.
Many experts and scouts paid attention to the year 2010, which was close to winning the final, playing as 2009 (every day for four days under the hot Mukachevo day sun). But few paid attention to the person who prepared these players.
Last spring, there was a youth tournament in Athens. Among the participants was also Kryvbas. It was a big surprise to me that the head of the Kryvyi Rih academy was Greek Maris Alexandris. The 31-year-old dared to come to work in Ukraine during the war and in a not very safe city. Maris’s father played for Olympiakos for almost 10 years and won seven championship titles. After his career ended, he stayed on to work within the structure of the Piraeus club. Alexandris Jr. could have easily stayed within the structure of Olympiakos and worked there, rather than going to Ukraine, where there is a war.
It is not easy to quickly recover staffing losses. This season, Kryvbas Academy’s tournament affairs are not going well. They lost many leaders, and in terms of selection, there is no one to replace them. No one particularly wants to go to Kryvyi Rih to play at the youth level.
Last season, three age categories of Dynamo won the Youth Football League. This season, the league has been reformed and the Future League has appeared. The best schools in the country play among themselves. The Dynamo Academy is not leading in any age category. The best position is U-14, which is in third place. All the others are in the middle of the table.
The objective reason is the loss of personnel. Many players ended up abroad. The 2007 national team easily passed the first qualification for Euro U-19. In the attack line, there were two Dynamo graduates — Dmytro Bogdanov and Bohdan Popov. But they now represent the German Union and the Italian Empoli, respectively. Now LNZ, Rukh, Polissya, and Karpaty are developing their schools. It is very difficult to compete for players. You can’t just fill gaps with selection anymore. You need to learn to work with the players you have and develop them.
Spanish specialists once worked at the Dynamo Academy, laying the foundation and determining the direction of development. A lot of time has passed. The methodology of the Dynamo Academy needs to be updated. Unfortunately, there are not so many project players. Yurii Moroz or Ihor Zhabchenko is good, but a different perspective on the school work is needed.
Why might Dynamo pay attention to Alexandris? He is already adapted to life and work in Ukraine. He demonstrated his qualifications in Kryvbas when he managed to show results without having resources. Goalkeeper Sychov is securing his place as a starter in the 2010 team. Defender Batista was linked with Benfica and Olympiakos. Plus, the successful performance of the 2009 and 2010 teams in the Youth Football League last season, where there were many interesting players.
The Olympiakos school is currently one of the most interesting in Europe. Not long ago, they won the UEFA Youth League, having only two Albanians in the squad. All the others were local players. In the summer, Brighton paid 35 million euros for 18-year-old striker Charalampos Kostoulas. The next talent in line is Christos Mouzakitis.
The ideas of the Olympiakos school and the philosophy of Maris are very close to the historical orientations of the Kyiv football school — good physical preparation, reliable defense play, pressing, quick transition from defense to attack, athleticism.
More attention should be paid to Maris Alexandris. He knows how to work and develop players. He gives investment returns. Dynamo now really needs to improve the work of its own school.
Serhii TYSHCHENKO
