The head coach of the men’s national team of Russia shared his expectations with Handballfast from the Moscow tournament, which will be held from 5 to 7 of January at Dynamo volleyball arena.
— How is the preparation for the Olimpbet Cup of Friendship?
— We gathered after the New Year and had a couple of trainings. We are happy, that guys came. There are no problems with motivation and atmosphere in the team, as usual. Unfortunately, Dmitriy Zhitnikov and Sergey Mark Kosorotov are not in the squad. Alexander Shkurinskiy and Viktor Kireev have micro traumas.
— By the way, only these two players in the current squad do not play in Russia…
— Exactly. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with them! I suppose, they are also happy to come to their motherland and communicate with the team, since they were absent on the previous training session. In general, as I’ve already said, all the guys have enough motivation.
— What exactly is it?
— Many coaches from Super League are skeptical about our training sessions. What’s the point in it if there are no official matches? But I know it for sure, that international matches are necessary anyway. It will be a great let down for the team, if we don’t hold it.
I was glad when we agreed to hold friendly matches in Qatar. Who had known that flooding would occur and the games would be eventually canceled?
The national teams of Belarus and Iran will compete in Moscow. Moroccans were also supposed to come, but they had difficulties with documents. Anyway, these matches are a good test.
— Will the meeting with Belarus be the main one for you?
— I don’t know, what the team of Iran is, what players will perform in its composition. On the contrary, the Belarusians are familiar, it is a comparable level. I’m happy that there is an opportunity to compete with them again.
— Your team lost to Belarus all three matches in November in the frame of so-called Super Series…
— I don’t want to be reminded of that. Because of refereeing. I told Yury Shevtsov about it. Don’t get me wrong, it is always a pleasure to come to Belarus and meet with this team. We are longtime friends with Yury and we are on good terms. But, in my opinion, the results should have been different in November.
You told that we had lost, I disagree. We played without Zhitnikov, Kosorotov, Shkurinskiy, Kireev and looked better half of the playing time...
— At the moment Artem Korolek, Nikita Vaylupov and several other remarkable players are not in the ranks of the Belarusian team. Will it be easier to beat them?
— I am even not aware of their present line-up. I’m focused on the preparation of my team now, not the matters of Iran and Belarus. And it doesn’t really matter, who exactly is playing.
— You invited several newcomers…
— Yes, I did. They are Donat Morozov, Aleksander Sinitsyn, Roman Shishkov, Vadim Ibrakov. I suppose, they performed well in the Super League, which matches I closely follow, and deserved the invitation to the national team. I want to check them. In addition, let this challenge give them an impetus to development and motivation to work harder.
— Please, tell me, how did you celebrate the New Year.
— I was in Moscow. I went to a Serbian restaurant Subotica, had a dinner with my friends. We celebrated the holiday and on the 1st of January I came to Novogorsk. I arrived at the training session first!
— What do you expect from 2024?
— First of all, I wish good health for everyone. I wish peace would come, we would completely return to the international arena and hold matches in other countries. I am always optimistic and I believe it is possible.
Photo: the HFR press service
