FC Dynamo Kyiv halfback Vladyslav Kabayev has done a big interview for ВДинамо YouTube channel and answered fans’ questions.
Vladyslav also had a meet-up with supporters, who asked their questions live and received presents.
Besides, all the present got autographs and had their photos with Vladyslav taken.
A part of the interview is for your attention below. Check out the full version in the video.
- A few months ago, as we were practicing, Buialskyi was telling me: “don’t strike too hard”, “precision is key”. He was hitting the upper V 10/10 while I could hit only three or something. But recently he came up and said: “I thought you’re younger, like 20 or 21, but then checked Wikipedia and saw you’re 28, a year younger than me. Sorry, I guess is shouldn’t be teaching you”. People often think I’m 20 or 21. Guys joke that I sleep in a cryosauna.
- It’s not too common that players over 25 come to Dynamo from other UPL clubs. Do you think it was your reward for decent performance for other teams – 100 appearances for Zoria, 50 for Chornomorets?
- I’m very self-critical. My transfer was mostly a coincidence. As the full-scale war broke off, three foreign players, who performed in my position, left Dynamo: de Pena, Vitinho and Verbic. There were decent performers for this position in other clubs, but they picked me, so I guess I deserved it. I really wanted to join Dynamo. When I featured for Zoria, I was mostly doing well against Dynamo. I was friends with Tymchyk. I didn’t know Mykolenko personally, but I was told he was speaking well of me. So I was dreaming of coming here two years before the actual transfer.
- How did you football journey begin when you were a kid?
- Like everyone else, I was just playing outside. As kids, we had some bricks instead of posts. I’m grateful to my parents as we lived in a village, but they were bringing me to football school in Odesa. Although I was doing swimming first, I quickly realized it wasn’t my thing as I was freezing in the water. Then mom brought me to chess club. Now I barely remember the rules. It seemed boring to me. Eventually mom took me to football school. At first I wasn’t doing really well. When you just play in your neighborhood, you don’t have a coach, so you do what you want. But then different football began for me. I had to do what I was told to. I was making things up not to go there, pretended to be sick. In summer I just wanted to hand out, spend time with girls. But mom was dragging me to practice. Basically I didn’t have childhood per se. But now I’m grateful to mom and dad for spotting that talent in me. Coaches were saying: “He won’t succeed in this”. Back then I didn’t even understand how things work. I barely watched football on TV, but for some reason I liked playing with the ball. I asked mom to take me to a game and saw it all under different angle. I realized it is a hard work. And now I’m happy I do this job.
- Which teams, beside Chornomorets, did you like as a kid?
- Manchester United as they had Cristiano Ronaldo. Also Milan. My first jersey was Kaka #22. It happened so that this number is still with me.
- What was your childhood dream?
- When you’re 18 you start thinking differently, but when I was younger I had only one option – football. I only had plan A. Maybe I didn’t see myself playing for some super club, but I was sure I could play for Chornomorets.
