War changes mentality of the nation

In the second part of a big interview, the Miners’ mentor Igor Jovicevic shared his impressions of the World Cup in Qatar, revealed phenomenon of Croatian football, talked about his experience of communication with Rinat Akhmetov and attitude toward Ukraine and Ukrainians.

– Igor, who did you root for in the World Cup final?
– For football. I think that if Croatia are destined to lose, then let it be the world champion. Football is going through a period of happiness because the best footballer in its history won this award. And I think all neutral fans wanted that to happen. We tend to idolize someone, so let it be Messi due to his discipline, behaviour on the football field and consistency. He has been playing at a consistently high level for the last 15 years, and this win is a crown for him, status and respect, especially in Argentina. I think football has returned to him everything he has been giving for the past 15 years.

– Croatia finish in the top three national teams for the second time in a row. How can it be explained?
– It is very hard to explain. People from Spain, Canada, France also ask me: how do you manage to do that when you have a population of less than 4 million people? Sometimes we cannot even explain it to ourselves, but we definitely have talent as a foundation, we have the mettle and mentality of a winner. I think talent is multiplied by mettle, as I said before in an interview. There are also demands from the fans because we are a football nation. And we demand so much that there is a lot of criticism even during the World Cup: we played here this way, but we could do better, why does this one play and not the other one? There is a lot of criticism during the tournament. It seems that the team lose every match 0-6 when you read the newspapers and listen to the television. But when the championship ends and it comes to summing it up, 300-400 thousand people come out on the street and everyone praises you. They demand a lot, but this is the mentality: Croats do not tolerate mediocrity. Footballers understand this and give more than they can actually give. I see the only explanation in this of how you can beat the favourite . Or we have already become the favourites. Not every national team have three medals within 25 years, and even big favourites do not have this. Two bronzes and a silver give us the right to say that Croatia is a football strength. We have medals for two times in a row and show spirit, fighting qualities where one or two talents can decide the fate of the match. Croatian unity and patriotism are reflected in a result. Although we also have a coach who has been doing an excellent job with the generation change for the last five years. There were 18 new footballers at this FWC compared to the last tournament in 2018. Yes, you can say that you lost 1st or 2nd spot, but you still remain on top. There is no logical explanation for this. We have no snow at all, but we have world champions in skiing: Janica Kostelic and Ivica Kostelic. We only had three swimming pools and we became world champions in water polo. We are world champions in many athletic disciplines.

– Is it a mentality of champions?
– Mentality works in a stressful situation: when everyone falls, we can stand up, take a step forward and overcome fear. We all play with fear. And whoever says there is no fear during or before the match is lying. I spoke to coaches who won the Champions League and they all said they were scared. I explained: it is not about the fear that blocks and binds. This fear requires you to concentrate, to focus, so you start doing what you have to do. Unity and synergy of characters. There is no ego in the Croatian national team, and this is also a specialty. No one thinks he is above the team. Everyone is Croatian in Croatia national team. There is no composite team, the competition is between Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk and others. The national team means we are all together. We all compete on the football field as one.

– Did you see something new for yourself at the World Cup from the point of view of tactics?
– I did because I watched a lot of football, listened to a lot of comments, watched all sports programs. I was improving myself, I wanted to take something that could help me as a coach. And I realized that there is no logic in football. The importance of success is so great that the factor of unity, I think, is the foundation. A good atmosphere in the dressing room is the foundation. Because sometimes coaches do not control the tactical pattern on the football field: when the situation is crazy, when you risk it all, when the team being "on fire" wants to seize the moment during the last 15 minutes, then all the tactics, the entire game plan is destroyed – there are no plan A, no plan B, no plan C... These are emotions, pure emotions. And several teams, thanks to emotions, advanced further and made a result. This is regarding the psychological component. The tactical component: everyone who wanted to play good football, and this must be some new trend, they all returned home early: be it Germans or Belgians or Serbians or Spaniards. And the Brazilians too, who played pass-pass-pass, have been at home for a long time. Those who managed to endure, played a little bad football for which they were criticized are on top. For example, we, Croatia, were criticized for playing in defence, not beating anyone for 120 minutes, sometimes winning on penalties, but we fought until the last in the top four. The French did the same way, they carried out counter-attacks using Mbappe. Morocco, the sensation of the championship, pressed and counter-attacked. If the pressing is unsuccessful, then go back, to the low block and without the ball you have to wait for the counter-attack. So, the trends are waiting, low block and counter-attacks. All those who wanted to play football well, they all did not get over the quarter-finals. This World Cup was more pragmatic, because everyone played for the result and not to please the fans. Because the fans want to see the result and they don't care how you achieve this result. Because if you analyse certain matches now with a cold head, there really was no good football expected by the fans, but if the result is positive, everyone goes out celebrating together. So, football is a game of emotions.

– What will you be doing during the next two weeks?
– Now I am reading the autobiography of Shakhtar’s legendary captain Darijo Srna and I am getting great pleasure. I started it on my way on holiday to Dubai and read for seven hours straight without interruption. This is a book about life, not just about football. And such people help you to develop. Detailed discussions about preparations for the training camp have already begun too. I discuss the plan and periodization of the training camp, the friendlies we plan to play, training goals and tactical tasks that need to be completed before the first match against Rennes via video calls with the coaching staff. We will continue the things that were going well. We add several moments and segments in these three or four months where we lacked something to the training camp through individual, group and collective analysis in order to improve. For example, the better way to find opportunities during passes from the flanks, the better way to take the structure after losing the ball so that we are not caught on counter-attacks. After all, in the Ukrainian Premier League, we play very high in the opponent's half of the field, so our structure must be optimal after losses. And many such small elements, individual moments. This process of tactical preparation has already started because there are two weeks left.

– So, is your vacation already over?
– I know my body: the first three weeks you simply rest from the championship because there is a lot of stress, a lot of mental fatigue accumulates, a lot of work, you don't sleep, and our situation generally multiplies it by two, three or ten. After all, when you live in a hotel for five months, you have the feeling that you are constantly at the training camp. You don't have your own apartment, you don't have your own house where you can get some peace, you don't have family nearby, there are many factors that exhaust you. Therefore, you have to rest for the first two or three weeks. And now, when you are fresh, you focus on the future work, there is a concentration that comes only to a fresh head. That is why the day of rest during the microcycle is better than any possible training. A day when you don't train. It sounds paradoxical, but it is true. At the same time, our footballers have already received individual plans of physical preparation and will approach the first day of training in Antalya with a certain load. We won't start from zero. And the work on the game model is already underway – the tactics will be from the first day and the focus is increasing.

– Our youth team also performed successfully in the autumn: they have advanced from the group for the first time since 2015 and will continue their path in the UEFA Youth League play-offs. Will any of the players get a chance to go to the winter training camp with the first team?
– We will see. We are currently having a discussion, looking at the team formation, synchronization with the management continues, communication with Darijo Srna is continuous and on a very fruitful basis. Of course, the play shown by the youth was very successful. My congratulations on reaching the European spring, the coach did an excellent job. I had the opportunity to invite many footballers of the youth team during the international break in the autumn and they spent one of the microcycles with us in Warsaw. And I really saw a team there and some footballers who can make a difference on the football field. Besides, there is the mettle I was talking about. You will not get anywhere without this mettle because you will be left only with a talent, and you will not last long only on talent. So, we are in constant communication with them, and if we need players in the training process, we will always call someone from the U19.

– During these six months, you communicated with Rinat Akhmetov several times. In what way did you know him before personal conversation and how has your attitude towards Shakhtar president changed during these months?
– From the time of my first experience in Ukrainian football, when I still played for Karpaty as a footballer in 2003–2004, worked as a sports director in 2010, then as a coach of Karpaty and Dnipro-1, the status of Mr. Akhmetov was only positive for me throughout all this period. FC Shakhtar Donetsk has always been an example of how to behave regarding the organization, the fulfilment of its financial obligations, respect for specialists is so evident here. And we have all observed for many years how high the organization and quality of specialists working here is. Because staff decides everything. The way the great people manage the day-to-day process is what makes this club the strongest. Footballers are the first thing fans see, but believe me, people inside the "ship" raise the status of the club to greater heights. And when I came to the club, I immediately noticed it. And today I confirm all the positive words, all the feedback I received in communication with other people which I heard about the club and the president during the last 20 years spent in Ukraine. Now I get a very clear understanding of what FC Shakhtar Donetsk is. When you communicate with high-class professionals who surround you every day, you have no other choice but to work even better. In order to give these footballers, seen by the fans on the field for 90 minutes, an opportunity to show worth. You have no reason not to show the result because they give you everything. You cannot help but give your best because everyone around you helps you to focus only on football. And if we talk about the president, he is involved in the life of the team from the first day until today. We talked several times, and I got great pleasure because I saw the following: he really understands football and gives pieces of advice with thoughts on what has happened and what could happen. And when such successful people share their advice with you, it is a great privilege. Firstly, I am younger, and secondly, I have never been the head of such a successful "ship" as Shakhtar Donetsk, and therefore I want to hear advice and draw my own conclusions. In some situations, his thoughts about the vision of football makes me and my coaching staff react in the following way: how could he see it, just how? Therefore, communication with the president gave me great satisfaction. He also showed that the project we are starting has a bright future, that he sees the positive things and this way to the future. And he emphasizes this. However, he also said that there will be defeats along the way of this project from which we should draw certain conclusions and move on. You know, Messi now also talked about the fact that he tried so many times to win the World Cup, that he failed for four times, cried for four times, was nobody for four times because everyone who does not succeed is multiplied by zero in Argentina. And that's how it is in football, we are multiplied by zero after defeats. However, he was able to find the strength to win this award from the fifth attempt. It's the same with us, there will be obstacles on the way to success, but if the president, CEO Sergei Palkin, Darijo Srna are with the team, if we all move in the same direction, then we will definitely succeed. The future is very bright and it motivates me a lot. And I thank the president for this support that he expresses in phone conversations. I hope that I will be able to meet him personally. But in our communication, I feel support due to which I can transfer these positive emotions to football players.

– Few people believed in Shakhtar before the season start, but now we are in the Europa League, we are competing for the champion's title and experts note that the team have a play and a result. For you personally, what will be a success in June 2023 in terms of ambitions?
– Well, listen, for a fan this is a title, FC Shakhtar is a champion. We have to compete for the championship and we want to be champions, but there are many matches, many training sessions, many situations where we have to find a common language, many conflicts, many problematic situations, injuries, other factors prior to this championship. That is, I do not want to jump right into June. There are many days before June and my life philosophy is to go day by day. But go day by day knowing your goal. And we do not to change it, although factors may change in the process. The same Messi could have become a champion earlier, but it didn't work out, and he became one only now. I was asked one simple question: “What are you doing?” I said: “I’m trying.” It means I make attempts, I want to get better every day, I work. And the goals we set for ourselves are unchangeable. However, some things change. I explain. At the beginning of the championship, we did not set ourselves the goal of becoming champions. And whoever says so is telling a lie. Because we didn't know who we would use to play. Therefore, there was no goal to win the championship. There was no goal of advancing from the Champions League group. There were no such specific goals. But during the process I was talking about, ambitions are growing day by day. Because you see what material you have, how much your confidence matches the quality. Therefore, you can change your goals along the way. And now we are coming to the point where we can set ourselves the biggest goals. We showed it through our daily work. We should not jump; I can't say that I want to win the Champions League this year. It is not realistic. Someone might say: ah, they don't believe in themselves... No, that's just an unrealistic goal. You have to be realistic, but at the same time take a step forward. After all, when they tell me that you should only be a realist, it reminds me a little of pessimism. I always want to be an optimist, I always want to look for something impossible. Because when you approach the impossible, it turns out that the door opens. I don’t know how. When I was little, I was told in Dinamo Zagreb the following: "How are you going to play in Real Madrid?” And I got there. The impossible things are possible for me. Faith in this simply carries me forward and allows me to overcome all obstacles. The important thing is that we just started what Dynamo Kyiv have been doing for four years. We are making a new project and showing that we can continue to become champions in two or three years, if we keep this team. We will give everything so that FC Shakhtar becomes the champion this year. We go from match to match and gnaw out victories. And we have already shown that we have enough material for this construction. My players are confident and we promised each other at the last match of this year against Vorskla that we would fight to the end. However, we still have so much space ahead of us because of our young team, because of the quality we have. Because we just started what Dynamo have done four years ago. And this space is the motivation to move forward. This is our advantage. They finish their project and we start one. This is the bright path that the president sees. It gives him motivation. And this is our strength!

– You have said many times that Ukraine is your second homeland. How have these months passed for you since the beginning of the war? What can you say about Ukraine fighting for freedom and about Ukrainians?
– There are no words that could express my respect and my gratitude to all the people who are fighting for Ukraine, the soldiers of the Armed Forces. We are able to do what we love the most thanks to them, to play football in Ukraine. Although I am not Ukrainian, I respect the Ukrainian people so much from the very first moment of my contact with people in Lviv, in Karpaty, in the western region where they have already had the foundation of Ukrainian patriotism. Then I also felt it in Dnipro, how much surrounding people supported me when I was there. Both the eastern and western regions already think with the Ukrainian mentality to go and to make this unity stronger. However, I am absolutely grateful to everyone for fighting for more than 300 days. I am sure that Ukrainians will not stop until they win. And during this the process, they make it possible for us to play football. We compete by playing football. We show that life goes on. Playing football, playing with heart, we showed the strength of the Ukrainian people to the whole world in the Champions League. I said to everyone who greeted me: we fight like you fight, like you breathe. This is the minimum that we wanted to show to all soldiers, all military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine watching our matches. And the results we have demonstrated, I think, made not only Shakhtar Donetsk fans proud, but entire Ukraine as well. This is an example of how to be socially responsible, serious under very difficult conditions for us. Because it is difficult to live, to think about sports results, about sports goals when there is danger, there are sirens every day preventing you from working because you have to be in shelter. This is also an atypical situation for us, foreigners, but I have Ukrainian friends around me and I just feel like one of you. Many people ask me why I don't leave Ukraine. However, this great empathy for Ukrainians makes me one of you. And my family supports me in this. I am now in the best club which I can only compare with Real Madrid in terms of organization, in terms of the people working in the club. Things I felt back then during five years in Real Madrid, I am feeling the same now and here in Shakhtar. By fulfilling all obligations – moral, financial – by all parameters that make the club great. Because great people work in this club. I want to wish Ukrainians strength to endure and win. Go ahead to victory, Ukraine! And I think that this situation will change the mentality and mettle of the Ukrainian people. Over time, this mettle of the military – not to surrender under extreme conditions, not to surrender against an opponent with, perhaps, much greater resources – will shape the mettle of the people. And regarding the sport side: look what we have now in football. Ukraine national team with footballers from Dynamo, Dnipro-1, Shakhtar, with Trubin keeping the goal, with Sudakov, Mykhailo Mudryk, Bondarenko, Kryskiv is the future, and in fact, the present of Ukrainian football. That is, you get a social component. The mentality and character change and you have a sport component – quality, talent. And when it is multiplied, there will be success for Ukraine national team. What you see now in Croatia national team, that kind of patriotism, was formed by the war situation that existed for four years from 1991, having changed the mentality of Croatians. So, let's keep our spirits up and keep going!

– It turns out this mentality will help us not only to win the war, but also to win in the future in sports and in football in particular? Do you feel that the nation is changing in this war?
– 100%! A nation changes and a nation consists of people. As I said, Shakhtar Donetsk is a club, it is a status, but it is people composing it. A nation is formed by people – civilians, soldiers, everyone. And today their mentality is changing. They have the mentality of winners. I want to convey huge greetings to all fans, all Ukrainians. Glory to Ukraine!