The head coach of the Armenian national team spoke about the team's performance in the first match of the World Cup against Malaysia (23:4), shared his impressions of the atmosphere, and also spoke about expectations from tomorrow's match against Uzbekistan.
— Congratulations on your victory. With such a bright debut, with such a bright start at the World Cup. First of all, I want to ask about the emotions, the support of the fans, the fans. It seems to me that many of us have not seen this for a long time, but some have never seen it at all.
— A gorgeous full stadium, very loud, chanting the names of the players, with posters prepared. In old jersey, in new jersey. There are a lot of young hockey players who practice. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible. That is, it really is... You feel like it's a home World Cup. You feel like you're not playing with five plus a goalkeeper, but with six plus a goalkeeper. Uniquely. So, of course, it's an atmosphere that I've probably never been in before as a coach.
— The result with Malaysia is clear. There is a big difference in the level. I want to ask about what I managed to understand from this game. What analysis was carried out, what useful things were seen for the team?
— We still need to work on control and game discipline, because there is a fairly large number of deletions. With such an advantage in the account, we shouldn't have had any deletions at all. And this is partly the result of excitement, and partly the result of excessive enthusiasm. And, in principle, control is what we need to move forward on.
We took time out, and we talked during the breaks. Basically, during the match, the guys inside the structure and system of the game added and listened. Our task is to continue in the same vein, so that ideally we have 20 robots who just do their job with a cool head and an absolutely warm heart. That's what we need to keep moving towards.
— Tomorrow is the match against Uzbekistan. Everyone calls it the final of the tournament. It is clear that there are no easy matches. What keys does Armenia have to victory?
— We need to offer a good pace, work very clearly and very efficiently inside the defensive zone, and we need to load up the defenders and goalkeeper. Basically, if we do these things, everyone will do their job and concentrate on the small details, then in the end we will all come to a good result. Uzbekistan is a very cool team, they control the puck very well positionally. They're rolling out great, the majority is very good, there are a lot of performers, so our main task is to concentrate, recover and, first of all, recover psychologically.
I believe that this is the first excitement, the first thrill, when you put on a jersey in the national team, when you hear the anthem, when you see this stadium, that we have all lived today. And tomorrow I will insist that this is just another hockey game that is played primarily in every athlete's head. That's the most important thing.
— A gorgeous full stadium, very loud, chanting the names of the players, with posters prepared. In old jersey, in new jersey. There are a lot of young hockey players who practice. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible. That is, it really is... You feel like it's a home World Cup. You feel like you're not playing with five plus a goalkeeper, but with six plus a goalkeeper. Uniquely. So, of course, it's an atmosphere that I've probably never been in before as a coach.
— The result with Malaysia is clear. There is a big difference in the level. I want to ask about what I managed to understand from this game. What analysis was carried out, what useful things were seen for the team?
— We still need to work on control and game discipline, because there is a fairly large number of deletions. With such an advantage in the account, we shouldn't have had any deletions at all. And this is partly the result of excitement, and partly the result of excessive enthusiasm. And, in principle, control is what we need to move forward on.
We took time out, and we talked during the breaks. Basically, during the match, the guys inside the structure and system of the game added and listened. Our task is to continue in the same vein, so that ideally we have 20 robots who just do their job with a cool head and an absolutely warm heart. That's what we need to keep moving towards.
— Tomorrow is the match against Uzbekistan. Everyone calls it the final of the tournament. It is clear that there are no easy matches. What keys does Armenia have to victory?
— We need to offer a good pace, work very clearly and very efficiently inside the defensive zone, and we need to load up the defenders and goalkeeper. Basically, if we do these things, everyone will do their job and concentrate on the small details, then in the end we will all come to a good result. Uzbekistan is a very cool team, they control the puck very well positionally. They're rolling out great, the majority is very good, there are a lot of performers, so our main task is to concentrate, recover and, first of all, recover psychologically.
I believe that this is the first excitement, the first thrill, when you put on a jersey in the national team, when you hear the anthem, when you see this stadium, that we have all lived today. And tomorrow I will insist that this is just another hockey game that is played primarily in every athlete's head. That's the most important thing.