“We played not only with the opponent”: the coach of the Sochi team about the second place at the “Leather Ball”

The team of the Sochi Youth Sports School No. 7 in the Superfinal of the All-Russian tournament “Leather Ball” took second place in the younger age group (2011-12 years of birth). The tournament was held in Volgograd.

Correspondent of “MK Sochi” talked with the head coach of the team Dmitry Vasilievwho spoke in detail about the performance during the season and the fact that in the decisive match his wards had to face a number of injustices.

– Our journey began with the Sochi Championship. We played about 20 games and won it, thus qualifying for the regional championship. We played 6 matches there and took first place. We won the regional championship for the second time in a row, but last year we did not go to the All-Russian tournament “Leather Ball”. Now the Krasnodar Territory sent us there. At this third stage, there were 72 regions. They were divided into 3 groups of 24 teams, because it is impossible to hold a tournament with so many participants at once. We got into the second group and played in Ivanovo in August. 2 teams did not come there, another one did not pass the rating, and together with us we got 21 teams. But it was still a very tough selection. We won 5 matches out of 5, took first place and reached the Superfinal in Volgograd. 3 stage winners played there, as well as the best team from the rural league. Those 12 players that we had involved in Ivanovo could not be exchanged for the Superfinal. As far as I understand, even in case of injuries. Fortunately, none of us fell out.

In Volgograd, 4 teams played in a circle, following which the final and the match for 3rd place were held. Unusual system, but we adjusted. The tournament started with a meeting with the winner of the rural league – “Favorite” from the Labinsk district of the Krasnodar Territory. You can’t blame the guys, it’s just that their level was lower than the city teams, they were clearly inferior in skill, they lost big in the tournament. We beat them 6:1. The second game is against Dynamo from Blagoveshchensk. Powerful, physically strong guys. According to my feelings, they should have been with us in the final. At the beginning of the meeting, we did not score many of our chances, it turned out to be a game on a collision course. In 5-6 minutes we snatched the victory – 3:2.

… In the final matches of the tournament, Youth Sports School No. 7 met with Sports School Berdsk from the Novosibirsk Region.

– The third game in the group with Berdsk did not decide anything, it was essentially a formality – we scored 6 points with them, the rest of the teams 0. And the next day we had to meet in the final anyway. Therefore, I gave the main team a rest, the guys who played less, released the main ones only at the end to warm up. Even so, we won 2:1. To be honest, there was no doubt that we would win the tournament. But on the final day, for the first time, I encountered an unsportsmanlike component in children’s football. The opponent’s guys are not very big, but they are mobile. They are better off playing in a small space. The final began, and at 3-4 minutes the game was stopped. The referee suddenly narrowed the field by 8 meters! About two thousand teams participated in the tournament and until then the regulations, especially during the game, were not changed. And further in the course of the game they did not let us go – we scored, they put penalties and free kicks in our goal … From the score 3:1, the opponents equalized the score 5 minutes before the end. The children felt injustice, by the end of the game they were unsettled by such decisions, I was removed from the bench for arguing … And the guys approached the penalty shootout in a nervous state, someone broke down, cried. And we lost 4:5. It turned out that they played not only with rivals, but with something else. Well, let’s be stronger. We’ll meet again on the field, I’m sure. Next year we will be more prepared for such moments, now we simply did not expect them. We have a strong team, we defended the honor of the Krasnodar Territory with dignity.

The composition of the team DYuSSh No. 7

Korotynsky Savely

Khristakyan Vladimir

Lutfullin Karim

Osipov Kirill

Silver Artyom

Morozov Arseniy

Ignatukhin Artyom

Skripnik Matvey

Manukyan Arno

Melitonyan Ronaldo (best player of the tournament)

Dobrovolsky Semyon (the best midfielder of the tournament)

Galstyan Levon