In the summer of 2021, Glenn Bale moved from Emmen to Krylia Sovetov. In a couple of years, the Dutch football player managed to become the leader of the team and make the Samara fans fall in love with him. A Sport correspondent met with Bale and asked him about life in Russia.
«Osinkin is a top coach for the RPL»
— “Wings” got off to a great start in the new season. What's the secret?
— I think it's all about injuries (smiles). We don't have many attacking players, so we had to throw children into the battle. And they show themselves well! Look at Saltykov, Khubulov, Babkin — no one expected this from them.
— The team scored the most in the first eight tours.
— Yes, this is some kind of madness! Perhaps our opponents cannot prepare for us because they don’t know how we will play against them.
— Is this the merit of Osinkin?
— Yes, I understand his philosophy, his vision of football. He completely trusts the youth and adds confidence to them. The players open up in front of him. Igor Vitalievich is an excellent specialist in this regard.
— Top coach for the RPL?
— Certainly! If you look at his work in Samara, we first won the FNL, and then gained a foothold in the RPL. Last season things weren't going well for us, but now we're back in business.
«The first summer in Samara shocked me»
< strong>— You have been in Samara for almost two years. Share your impressions about this period.
— When I first arrived at Wings, it was very difficult for me. There was only one foreigner on the team; there was no one to talk to. In addition, autumn was beginning — the weather was getting worse. There were few people in the stadiums due to coronavirus restrictions. But then everything changed: new foreign players appeared in the team, I began to understand Russian better. And the first summer in Samara shocked me: I thought that there would only be a couple of warm days. I went to the Volga beach, enjoyed the sun.
— Did you appreciate the Russian winter?
— In winter, fortunately, we are at training camps in other countries (laughs).
—Are you satisfied with everything in Samara?
—Yes, I really like it here, the city has gotten better lately.
— Have you already managed to get around the whole city?
— The center is exactly where I live. I haven’t been everywhere on the outskirts.
—Top 3 places that you would recommend everyone to visit in Samara?
— The first is the Proran tourist center on a small island on the Volga, there is a beautiful beach there! You board the ship and in 5-10 minutes you are already there. The second would be the Lotte Hotel with its excellent restaurants. And let the third be our arena. Everyone should visit it, it's a magical place! When people come and support us, “Wings” play better.
«For me, «Zhigulevskoe» is much better than «Heineken»
— With What Dutch city would you compare Samara to?
— I think Amsterdam. It is the largest, and Samara is even larger. The Netherlands has more small towns.
— Samara is also known as a city associated with space. Did you manage to visit the cosmonautics museum?
— I'm not that interested in cosmonautics, but my wife likes it. We went to the Samara Space Museum, but it is small — we looked around everything in 45 minutes. I liked the museum related to the history of Samara more. It was very interesting there, I learned a lot about Russian culture.
— The city is also famous for beer and crayfish. Have you tried it?
— Great combination (laughs)! Yes, it was delicious.
— There was a photo on Krylia’s social networks where you were given a large dish of crayfish as the scorer of the best goal of July.
—It was a great gift, I liked it. Sometimes you can eat them with beer together with your teammates.
— How do you like local beer?
— Top!
— In Russia they say that European is better.
— Depends on the brand. For example, Heineken is made in the Netherlands, but I don’t like it at all. When people hear this they say, «Glenn, are you crazy?» For me, “Zhigulevskoe” is much better.
“I can’t understand why people in Russia constantly talk about politics”
— I saw a lot of fishing photos in your Telegram channel. Did you go fishing on the Volga?
— We planned to go with Frolov and Barach last year, but a friendly game overlapped. This will no longer work: summer, unfortunately, is over. Apparently, it will have to be postponed until next year.
— How is your Russian now?
— I understand a lot, but it’s still difficult to talk . The grammar is very confusing for me.
— Are you studying with a teacher now?
< br>“At first I had a teacher, but she didn’t have the right approach: we studied things that I was unlikely to need as a football player. I need football terms, but I was learning words related to restaurants. I had to learn the language myself. Through communication with teammates, I was able to quickly master the main words. It’s still difficult for me to read, and sometimes there are problems with pronunciation: no one understands me (smiles).
— When you are ready to give a full interview on Russian language?
— If it’s a simple interview about football for 2-3 minutes, then I’m ready (laughs). If it’s like it is now, then no, it’s too difficult. Perhaps in a year or two I will be able to.
— Do you have a favorite word in the Russian language?
— There is no special one . I was more surprised that in Dutch and Russian there are the same words: rugzak — backpack, broek — trousers.
— What you still can’t understand in Russia?< br>
— When people constantly talk about politics. I can understand if someone talks about the weather or the news on the bus, but politics… I don’t like talking about it.
— What things do you miss?< br>
—Probably full stadiums. In Russia, each stadium seats about 30-40 thousand, in the Netherlands — 10-15, but they are always full. Not many fans go to football games now, I miss that. I’ll also mention the distances: in the Netherlands you need an hour to get from one city to another. If you drive in Samara for an hour, you will still be in Samara (laughs). But I'm used to the long journey.
— Now you generally have to travel to matches in Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar by train.
— It was hard at first. But now we make four or five such trips per season. It's actually fun: you joke all the way, play different games. It's not all bad.
— If you compare the Dutch championship and the RPL, who is stronger?
— I think on the same level. There are many young players in the Netherlands, and talented young people are also emerging in Russia now. Five years ago, older football players played here. We have Ajax with big salaries and opportunities, here we have Zenit. There are them and everyone else. PSV, Feyenoord — at the level of CSKA, Spartak and Dynamo.
«I didn't like playing Matthew McConaughey's character»
— In a previous interview, you talked about your desire to visit the opera in Samara. Did it work?
—I had tickets in hand, but then I looked at excerpts on YouTube. I realized that the opera lasted two hours with terrible music, so I canceled the trip (laughs). Now we are looking at something for October-November. I know that the Samara Academic Theater is one of the largest in Russia, so you should definitely visit it.
— What attracts you to opera?
—I understand that this is an unusual hobby. I just want to try it, see the show once.
— A month ago you played Matthew McConaughey’s character from “True Detective” in a pre-match video…
— I will never participate in something like that again (laughs)!
— But you fit into this role perfectly!
— I looked terrible! I didn’t like the hairstyle and mustache — not my style (smiles). Our press service forced me to participate in the video. After applying the makeup, I looked at myself in the mirror and said: “No, let’s cancel everything” (laughs).
— So you never thought about a career as an actor?
— Definitely not (laughs).
— You are now one of the team leaders. Are you ready to continue playing for “Wings” or do you want to try yourself in top clubs?
— Of course, I want to win trophies. I have two more years on my contract, I hope I can do this with Wings: we are off to a great start now.
— There were rumors that CSKA was interested in you in the summer. Have you heard anything about this?
— My agent talked about this option, but in the end nothing happened. CSKA did not contact Krylia; the interest was not so serious. Perhaps they were just finding out information about me.
—Which of your teammates is capable of playing in big clubs?
— Garre, one hundred percent. Perhaps it will be useful for him to play for “Wings” for six months or a year and then go for a promotion. He performs well on the field, scoring and providing assists. Soldatenkov and Costanza are also ready.
< br>
— What about Saltykov?
— Nikita is good, but it’s only been seven- eight games. He is doing a great job and I hope he will continue to improve.
—Can you compare him to Pinyaev?
— They are both young and play in the same position, but still in different styles. Nikita has a great future ahead of him, but everything depends on him.
“If I live in Russia for another three years, perhaps I’ll think about citizenship”
— We didn’t think about that to stay in Russia for a long time?
— As I already said, I still have two years left to play under my contract. Let's see what happens next.
— Have you considered Russian citizenship?
— I heard that you need to live in Russia for five years to obtain citizenship. I’ve only been here for two years, I’m still far from citizenship (laughs). If I live here for another three years, I might think about it.
— What is your main football dream?
— To win a trophy! In my career this happened only once — when we won the Dutch Cup with Groningen. These were unforgettable emotions! Now I want to win the championship. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the RPL or another league.
— What about playing in the Champions League?
— Now in Russia it will be difficult to do this, as the clubs are suspended. But for me, playing in European cups is not that important. I hope that Russia will be returned to Europe as quickly as possible. Now “Wings” are in third place, if we continue to play like this, we will get into the European competition. I hope that next year everything will end and we will play in the Europa League or the Conference League. .jpg» />