Ihor Surkis is very tolerant with journalists. He is always ready to answer any question.
- Joint tournament starts in a couple of weeks…
- I think the idea of this competition is very interesting. It will attract television and fans.
- Is this tournament a kind of preparation for new season, way to earn money of nostalgia for you?
- Everything you have mentioned matters. First of all our head coach will be able to estimate players’ conditions. Fans want to see a game of high level first of all, but some nostalgia also exists.
- Can the Joint tournament become the precursor of Joint league?
- I don’t think so. It’s a friendly competition. Never the less we should analyze how many spectators will be present at the stadium and how many viewers will watch games on TV.
- Has your attitude to Joint league changed?
- From financial point of view it is an interesting idea. Still another side of the coin exists. Shall we enforce our football or shall we make it weaker? I think it’s difficult to embody such project at the moment.
- How many spectators are you expecting to see at the NSC Olimpiyskyi as Zenit Saint Petersburg and Spartak Moscow come to Kyiv?
- Summer is vacation time, but never the less I hope that about 80% of tickets will be sold.
- Don’t you worry about problems with referees?
- As far as I know Russian referees will work in Russia and Ukrainian – in Ukraine. Of course I would like to see fair play, not influenced by referees.
- Dynamo Kyiv always struggle for trophies. Will the Joint tournament be an exception?
- We are not going to win at any cost. Oleh Blokhin’s task is to prepare players for the future season with a help of this tournament. I think he’ll test as many players as possible. Of course there will be some newcomers in the team.
Unfortunately we won’t play in the Champions league this season. Maybe it’s good for us at the moment to some extent. Team will have enough time to get ready for the season. It’s more difficult to improve team’s positions than to hold former ones. I think players and coaches have made necessary conclusions. First of all the play of the team must be attractive for fans.
- In 1990 Valeriy Lobanovskyi also stated that it’s not a top priority to win friendly competitions, but never the less Kyivans usually defeated Spartak Moscow as these teams faced each other at the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup…
- Our team will always struggle for win! We’ll demonstrate our professionalism just like Zenit, Spartak and Shakhtar.
* photo by V. Rasner
