Yugoslav coach Miodrag Bozovic coached half of the clubs in the Russian Premier League and really wants to return to Russia. Why does a resident of Belgrade want to live in Sochi when UEFA will allow Russians and where has sexy football gone — in an interview with a coach who does not consider himself a foreigner in Russia.
— What do you like about the Russian mentality?
— A lot of things. The best part is that I never felt like a foreigner in Russia. Russian people also have very good humor.
— By the way, have you ever thought about getting Russian citizenship?
— Thought.
— What prevented you from getting it?
— I wanted to do it, but it turned out that I left Russia. But I still think about it.
— Would you like to live in Russia?
— It would be possible to live in Sochi, because the weather there is better. I really love the sun. Rostov, Krasnodar — also good.
— How do you feel about athletes changing their citizenship?
— Positive. You must love your country within yourself, no one can force you to do this.
— What do you think when legionnaires accept Russian citizenship?
— I also have a positive attitude.
— Doesn’t this close the door? for Russian players?
— What doors?
— Legionnaires take their places.
— Now there are many examples when players do not play for the national team of the country in which they were born. I think there is nothing wrong with this.
Alenichev with the Abascal results would have been removed long ago
— It is generally accepted that Zenit is the favorite of the Russian championship. Is Spartak a competitor to him?
— I don’t think so. They have a lot of problems. Guillermo Abascal is a young, talented guy, but if the last name of the head coach was Alenichev, then with such results he would have been removed long ago. The game of “Spartak” inspires me with admiration. She is so strange — sometimes good, sometimes very bad. But there is no stability. If she were, Spartak would be in first place.
— Will Abascal be able to stay for several seasons at the club?
— No one works there for several seasons, so he will not be at Spartak soon.
— Valery Karpin is criticized for combining posts in Rostov and the Russian national team. How do you feel about this?
— This is very difficult to combine. I don’t want to advise Karpin anything, I’ll just say that it’s difficult.
— How do you like the level of the Russian Premier League?
— It has dropped noticeably. Previously, there were very good foreigners in any team, but not anymore. But the Russians got a chance.
— What do you think of the refereeing?
— Very bad.
— Is the head of the RFU refereeing department Milorad Mazhich able to correct the situation?
— He was very good as a judge, but I don’t think he will change anything in Russia. He has no way to fix it. The system (of Russian refereeing) is very strange and complex.
— Are there match-fixings in Russia?
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— I don’t know, but I’ve never had anything like this.
— Never?< br>
— Never. Not even close. No one even hinted at such things.
— Which of your colleagues are you interested in watching in the RPL?
— Behind everyone, but a very good coach, Rashid Rakhimov. He has perfectly structured Rubin's game and works very professionally. Vladimir Fedotov has built a good structure in CSKA, Valery Karpin works great in Rostov, and Igor Osinkin from Krylia is very competent. And the best one now is Ivich. Let's wait and hope that Krasnodar will become the champion.
— The most talented football players in the league?
— Spertsyan, Glushenkov, Makarov.
— Makarov?
— Yes, he consistently shows quality .
— What about Pinyaev?
— There has been a lot of talk about Pinyaev for a long time — 3-4 years, maybe more. He's a talent. But he needs a serious step forward so that he can show himself to the fullest — look, it’s me!
— Is it time for him to go to Europe?— It's difficult to talk theoretically. Sometimes you look and think that some football player can play everywhere, and other times it seems that he can play nowhere at all. Pinyaev has good qualities — speed, dribbling. But when playing defense, he needs to improve himself. The problem is that no one wants to see Russians now.
— But Zakharyan recently left.
— He has excellent agents, because it is now very difficult to sell a Russian football player to Europe.
— So the agents played the main role?
— First of all, yes, despite the fact that he is very talented.
— Zakharyan’s move to the Spanish championship will not encourage European clubs to pay more attention to Russians?
— No, until the situation changes. I have experience in Yugoslavia — there were sanctions when I, as a football player, could not play abroad. Now it is important for all European championships that there are no football players from Russia.
— Some said that he was arrogant.
— I did not notice. But Russians really get arrogant very quickly. Requirements for ourselves are reduced. In Russia, if you play a little well, you are immediately raised to the skies, they say that you are cool, even if you are not. And you yourself begin to think so, and then you sink into the swamp.
There is no sexy football in Russia
— During your work in Russia you talked about sexy football. Is there still one like this in the RPL?
— Gullit (Ruud Gullit coached Terek Grozny in 2011 — approx.) spoke about this. And I only made a joke about sexy football once, after which people began to associate me with this phrase. But I like it, I don't mind. This means very beautiful football that the audience likes. Today I don’t see this in Russia. Maybe “Wings of the Soviets” shows it a little.
— Why do you single out Samara?
— They are engaged in the game — this the most important. It doesn’t matter what kind of money you have, the main thing is that football remains a game.
— How do they treat Russians in Montenegro now?
— Fine. What problems do we have with Russia? None. There are good and bad people everywhere — both in Russia and Montenegro. We love Russia. But even if some politicians are against it, the people themselves still have a warm attitude towards Russia.
— UEFA recently allowed Russian youth teams to compete .
— They banned it again anyway.
— RFU General Secretary Maxim Mitrofanov then said that this information was a hoax, they say, in fact, technical aspects for this approval are currently being worked out.
— I think that there will still be such positive steps. It is impossible to remove Russia from Europe, because it is located there.
— But there is an unpleasant moment — the neutral status of Russians.
— We must go Anyway. Even if there is no anthem, everyone knows that these players represent Russia. As a result, Russian football will still return to Europe. A question of time.
— When will this happen?
— When the special operation will end. It was the same with us Yugoslavs. The war ended, and after some time we were allowed to compete.
— At least someone in UEFA is waiting for us?
— They wait to be told what to do. It is clear that they are under control.
— Miodrag, when will we see you as a coach?
— I am waiting for offers from any countries.
— Were you from Russia?
— I don’t want to belabor the point, but I think everything will be fine for me.
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