Come on, Let’s Play!
Saturday, August 18, 2018
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Shakhtar head coach played football with the children in Lviv
On the morning of August 18, being the Lviv – Shakhtar matchday, Paulo Fonseca and Igor Duljaj went to the Sportresurs ground, where boys and girls are continuously engaged in the Come on, Let’s Play! project.
On-the-field coaches
Saturday is the match day. Instead of everyday sessions, the guys hold friendly games and compete with one another; often, on the same field, children from different areas of the city gather together.
The visit of the coach and the former Shakhtar player who is the coaching staff member has caused great interest. Fonseca and Duljaj shook hands with each participant in the project - there were about sixty of them and played a small-sided game as playing coaches. Fonseca’s side have won.
- I don’t play that often, but today we’ve had a great match. My team is strong, - Paulo Fonseca shared his impressions. It's really nice to come here and live through this wonderful moment together with the guys. The atmosphere here is happy and joyful! Shakhtar develop the Come on, Let’s Play! project in order to motivate people to engage in football. It’s always important that clubs, federations and the state get concerned with involving children in sports and creating the necessary conditions.
Football tickets
After the game part, the time was ripe for giving gifts. In the evening, the children will go to the stadium in an organised manner. Paulo gave each child two tickets for the match Lviv vs Shakhtar, autographed team photos, and also awarded them with soccer balls with the images of the most outstanding players.
After the event, the Shakhtar head coach answered the questions from reporters:
- How did Shakhtar prepare for the encounter with Lviv? What do you make of the opponents?
- We prepare for each match, taking into account the features of our opponents. Lviv is a great team with good ideas and their own style. They are really dangerous while launching counterattacks. We expect a tough clash, having the sole goal of winning it.
- Lviv changed their coach, and this means that the tactic might get different as well?
- I can’t tell you anything about their tactic, because the new coach hasn’t had much time for changing the player formation. But in terms of motivation, changes always partly affect the players. I'm sure that this will happen.
- Yesterday, on the Internet, the statement of Serhii Rafailov about your assistance to Braga before the Europa League meeting just went viral. Have you heard about that?
- I can’t imagine who wrote this and said so. I don’t know this person, so I can’t comment on this. I can only congratulate Zorya because they won deservedly. It wasn’t about luck, they really deserved it. My sincere congratulations to Zorya, the coach and the players. Now back to Braga. I described Zorya as a team who sit in the third spot of the Ukrainian championship, as a team who are great in terms of their performance and who display some interesting football. However, I said that Braga are stronger than Zorya. And even now, despite the fact that Zorya made it further, I continue saying that Braga are stronger. Even the Zorya coach himself said that Braga are stronger. If we talk about the fact that I wanted Braga to advance further - that's absolutely normal. That’s my former club, where I have lots of friends. If tomorrow I happen not to be at Shakhtar, and they will play in Portugal, I’m absolutely sure that I will be rooting for Shakhtar, regardless of their opponents. Those are absolutely normal situations, there’s nothing special about them. I always have great respect for this, that's exactly why I said so back then. But people have freedom of speech, and they can say whatever they want and think. However, I will not comment on this.
- Yesterday, a transfer window closed in Italy. Taison was said to be moving to Roma ... Are you sure that you will continue to prepare for the Champions League campaign with the current squad?
- Shakhtar’s squad is never closed. There’s always the opportunity to step it up and improve it. We’ll see. We analyze the situation, but at the moment we are not thinking about the Champions League - there’s a league game ahead, we are concerned just with that. There’s no need to remind you that at the moment, we’ve got many young guys who need to gain experience. We have time for them to become important players in the future.
- What do you think about the new coach of Karpaty?
- Of course, I know him. I was glad that he came here. He has worked with Jose Mourinho for many years and has extensive experience. I hope he will do an excellent job.
On-the-field coaches
Saturday is the match day. Instead of everyday sessions, the guys hold friendly games and compete with one another; often, on the same field, children from different areas of the city gather together.
The visit of the coach and the former Shakhtar player who is the coaching staff member has caused great interest. Fonseca and Duljaj shook hands with each participant in the project - there were about sixty of them and played a small-sided game as playing coaches. Fonseca’s side have won.
- I don’t play that often, but today we’ve had a great match. My team is strong, - Paulo Fonseca shared his impressions. It's really nice to come here and live through this wonderful moment together with the guys. The atmosphere here is happy and joyful! Shakhtar develop the Come on, Let’s Play! project in order to motivate people to engage in football. It’s always important that clubs, federations and the state get concerned with involving children in sports and creating the necessary conditions.
Football tickets
After the game part, the time was ripe for giving gifts. In the evening, the children will go to the stadium in an organised manner. Paulo gave each child two tickets for the match Lviv vs Shakhtar, autographed team photos, and also awarded them with soccer balls with the images of the most outstanding players.
After the event, the Shakhtar head coach answered the questions from reporters:
- How did Shakhtar prepare for the encounter with Lviv? What do you make of the opponents?
- We prepare for each match, taking into account the features of our opponents. Lviv is a great team with good ideas and their own style. They are really dangerous while launching counterattacks. We expect a tough clash, having the sole goal of winning it.
- Lviv changed their coach, and this means that the tactic might get different as well?
- I can’t tell you anything about their tactic, because the new coach hasn’t had much time for changing the player formation. But in terms of motivation, changes always partly affect the players. I'm sure that this will happen.
- Yesterday, on the Internet, the statement of Serhii Rafailov about your assistance to Braga before the Europa League meeting just went viral. Have you heard about that?
- I can’t imagine who wrote this and said so. I don’t know this person, so I can’t comment on this. I can only congratulate Zorya because they won deservedly. It wasn’t about luck, they really deserved it. My sincere congratulations to Zorya, the coach and the players. Now back to Braga. I described Zorya as a team who sit in the third spot of the Ukrainian championship, as a team who are great in terms of their performance and who display some interesting football. However, I said that Braga are stronger than Zorya. And even now, despite the fact that Zorya made it further, I continue saying that Braga are stronger. Even the Zorya coach himself said that Braga are stronger. If we talk about the fact that I wanted Braga to advance further - that's absolutely normal. That’s my former club, where I have lots of friends. If tomorrow I happen not to be at Shakhtar, and they will play in Portugal, I’m absolutely sure that I will be rooting for Shakhtar, regardless of their opponents. Those are absolutely normal situations, there’s nothing special about them. I always have great respect for this, that's exactly why I said so back then. But people have freedom of speech, and they can say whatever they want and think. However, I will not comment on this.
- Yesterday, a transfer window closed in Italy. Taison was said to be moving to Roma ... Are you sure that you will continue to prepare for the Champions League campaign with the current squad?
- Shakhtar’s squad is never closed. There’s always the opportunity to step it up and improve it. We’ll see. We analyze the situation, but at the moment we are not thinking about the Champions League - there’s a league game ahead, we are concerned just with that. There’s no need to remind you that at the moment, we’ve got many young guys who need to gain experience. We have time for them to become important players in the future.
- What do you think about the new coach of Karpaty?
- Of course, I know him. I was glad that he came here. He has worked with Jose Mourinho for many years and has extensive experience. I hope he will do an excellent job.
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