Ex-Metalist player Andrei Berezovchuk told about the newly created team of FC Volchansk, the Cup of the Dnieper and plans for the future.
Winter off-season in football is already habitually becoming a period of news and surprises. So in Kharkiv football pervyhigovy Gelios got a new head coach, and second-class Metallist 1925 invited to gather 4 Brazilians. However, more recently, one more Kharkiv football newsmaker was the regional club FC Volchansk. The amateur collective in the middle of 2017 was headed by the new head coach - ex-football player Metalist Andrei Berezovchuk - and now, preparing for the new season, the wolves reached a new level. In the friendly tournament of the Cup of the Dnieper, the team has so far played without an outstanding name and great achievements with Tavriya-Skif from the Amateur Championship of Ukraine, and on February 4 will fight with FC Dnipro. About the newly created team, the Cup of the Dnieper and plans for the future, we talked with the head coach of FC Volchansk Andrey Berezovchuk.
FC Volchansk, a team created not so long ago. How did it happen that you were there and what tasks did the leadership put in place?.
In May 2017, the president of FC Volchansk Vitaly Panov called me and shared his idea of ??creating a battle-worthy collective. We were acquainted with Vitaly Vladimirovich for a long time, but I heard this proposal from him for the first time. The club in Volchansk existed, in my opinion, since 1992. But it was all like this: came to the game, they played, everyone went home, to work. Teams, the collective was not. Therefore, first of all, there was an idea to create a team, to build a training process. I liked this idea.
Did not it embarrass that the club was not even at the level of the amateur championship of Ukraine, but the regional one? Ambitions are much more ... Of course, embarrassed. And, of course, any beginner coach immediately sees himself and wants to be in a high-level team, but we all perfectly understand that the current situation in Ukrainian football does not particularly contribute to the development of clubs and experiments with young coaches. A young coach is hard to prove himself or receive an offer from a good club. So I decided to do Volchanskiy.
Six months passed. What has changed now? Are there any positive shifts?.
There are changes, and considerable. First, they are fans. When we played the first game at home, in Volchansk, the match was on the strength of 50 people, with whom I talked and who somewhere even chuckled at our idea to create a football team. At the final games of the regional championship, when we confidently went on the first, 500 people came to the games.
Unambiguously much has changed. Not even changed, but appeared. The club has an emblem, a site, social networks. The team has full sets of equipment, the training process is set up - 3-4 times a week we train, plus we play the game, we conduct views, we work in the gym.
And most importantly, people see these changes and begin to be interested in the team. Accordingly, there are fans. Yes, we are an amateur club, but we try to approach all processes professionally.
After a successful performance in the regional championship, the appetite did not grow? (FC Volchansk only in the final of the championship lost to FC Zachepilovka) There are such thoughts, I will not hide. But in the plans for the future our thoughts with the president of the club converge. We do not want to do everything in the heat. I want to make a smooth transition to a higher level. To, first, the level of the team's game corresponded to the same amateur or second league, and secondly, to have an infrastructure - at least a stadium with a good field, stands and minimum conditions. I do not want the teams that will come to visit us saying that we came to an unclear place and played not on the field, but in the garden. Yes, there are difficulties with this, but the process is underway.. We are still working on the level of the team's game, we are engaged in bundling, tactics and t.
How did you get the invitation to the Dnipro Cup?.
The organizers invited us, and we gladly agreed to try our hand against the background of very good teams, which are much higher than us. This experience is indispensable.
Opponents are not afraid of the guys? Was there a problem in the first game? (FC Volchansk in the first match of the Dnipro Cup played a 1: 1 draw with the representative of the Amateur Championship of Ukraine Tavria-Skif) The first 20 minutes it was very noticeable that the guys were worried. Not knowing the strength of the opponent, and more than not understanding their strength in a duel with a new, stronger team, of course, experienced. They played across, back to avoid risking. And it definitely hampered them. There was stiffness.
How did you manage to cheer up and adjust the guys?.
During the break we talked. I tried to convey to them that at least in this particular game they are not weaker than the opponent. Asked to relax and play the football in which they can. Even the goal that we missed is more of an accident - a ricochet from our defender at the corner ... However, after the goal completely intercepted the initiative, we wanted to recoup and eventually we managed to equalize the score.
In the second half on the field in the FC Volchansk appeared known in the past midfielder of the Dnieper, Metalist and the national team of Ukraine Oleg Shelayev. How much of his appearance is a regular in Volchansk?.
Oleg periodically helps us with his experience. He last season played in the championship of the Kharkov region. But, given that Oleg lives in the Dnieper, he can not always be on the team. Of course, such a player, with such a game experience, and, frankly, in very good shape, any coach would like to be part of his team. Therefore, we are always glad to see Oleg in our team.
Even for this match it became apparent that with the advent of Shelayev players somehow liberated. He calmed them down, began to direct the game. Looking at his game, forget about age and think that Oleg still early finished! (laughs) Next game in the Dnipro Cup against FC Dnipro. Do you need to set up a team for such a rival?.
We will again face the same problem as in the first match. Let Dnipro now and in the second league, but it's the same club with a name, with infrastructure, fans.
This is the club that just recently played in the final of the Europa League, so for our guys it creates some kind of uncertainty in their own strengths.
We will try to calm the guys, explain that with all respect to the Dnieper as a club, it's still not the team that was before and you can play with them on equal terms. And I hope that we will give battle regardless of the result!.
The appearance of Oleg Shelayev in this match is likely?.
Yes, it is possible. It will be interesting how the director of the Children's Academy of the FC Dnipro will play against his team! (laughing).