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The chief coach of the national team of Armenia Ian Porterfield:

There are going to be contests with the national team of Kazakhstan and Poland in front. How are you going to be prepared for that?

We are going to gather on the 28th of May in Yerevan. The same day at 17:00 o'clock will take place the first training. For the next day we will work to full extent and we will have two exercises. For the preparation in the matches with the national teams of Kazakhstan and Poland I invited 24 footballers. There are new players and I must examine them. For this reason we will have bilateral game; from the apprentices - defenders of “Ararat” Vahagn Minasyan and Hrayr Mkoyan as well as Ararat Arakelyan from “Banants”. On Friday with chartered flight we will leave for Kazakhstan and in the evening of the same day in the same stadium, where it will take place the meeting with the Kazakhs, we will have our last training. Unfortunately Karen Alexanyan has an injury and he can not join us. There are disqualified Romik Khachatryan and Levon Pachadjyan, which can not take part in the contest against the national team of Kazakhstan. We have problem in the middle line because Karen Alexanyan and Romik Khachatryan play in the center of the half-backs. However this is not the first time when we are obliged to play without these football-players.

But our team must have a heavy trip. The national team will leave for Alma- Ata; just after the match again setting out for a long way will return into Yerevan and will play with the Poles. Won't it make some certain difficulties?

I do not think. For this time it will be easier for us as we will depart for the game, and we will come back from there with a chartered flight. In Kazakhstan we will fly in the morning and will have a possibility to get ready normally. Just after the match we will come back and on Sunday we will be in Yerevan. This will give us a possibility to have a rest and from Monday to get ready to have a meeting with the Poles, where it was so difficult for us when after the contest with the national team of Finland we left for Serbia. We spent a lot of time in the airports. It had an influence on our game. If you remember the first half with the national team of Serbia ended 0:0. We were fresh and could show resistance to the strong opponent, but in the second half the boys were tired and, remaining with ten players, during the last half an hour lost the game.

Are you familiar with the possibilities of the national team of Poland, and what do you know about the Kazakh?

I only watched the videotape recording of the game of the national team of Kazakhstan, I am familiar with the style of its game and I know that lots of Russian footballers are playing there. More familiar with it is Vardan Minasyan, who has already analyzed the strong and week parts of the national team of Kazakhstan and showed me.

A day or two ago FIFA published its regular rating-list of the national teams. Our team again came down and takes the 128th place. The national team of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan exceeds us. What do You think, does the classification of FIFA represent the real strength of the teams?

In order that to have a progress in the rating-list of FIFA, we have to win. The Kazakhs and Azerbaijanis went up higher because of victory. So the qualification of FIFA does not have a formal character, it evaluates the victories and the successful performance. I want very much to see the national team of Armenia on the high positions, but one can not reach it at once. I hope that sooner or later the national team of Armenia in that list will take higher places.

When will our national team, at last, be able to gain its first victory?

In every match we strive for winning. We never think about bad result before the game. We always come into the field in a good mood. The opportunity of winning we had, but we did not have luck. Because of the low performing of mastery we were deprived of victories. One strike could be decisive. In particular in the game with the national team of Finland we missed a wonderful opportunity to achieve a success, in order that to gain the first victory we have to exert all the effort. Before every contest we support the boys. The national team of Armenia in the contesting round of the European championship had 5 matches, and all our opponents in the rating-list take leading positions. We have not played with week teams. Moreover the last three matches we had in the outside. And now we must guest and play with the national team of Kazakhstan. We met with strong teams and in three games we left rather a good impression. One of the weakest sides of our national team is that we can not quickly switch from defense into attack; we do many superfluous passes, as well as senseless actions are very much. One must organize attacks very quickly. We must have many meetings yet, and the opportunity of winning we still have.

When you took over the helm of our national team and knew already about the oncoming opponents, did you evaluate the possibilities of the national team of Armenia?

If you look attentively, then you will see that, during the whole history, the national team of Armenia in general has scored very few goals. For today among all the players of the national team of Armenia most goals has scored Armen Shahgeldyan-all 6 goals, while having more than 50 games. And if we look at the results, then the national team also did not achieve a serious success, almost always took the lower place of the tournament-table. Before my arrival to Armenia, of course, I thought that it would be difficult. But under my direction the national team of Armenia had three matches on the high-level. Naturally, I do not mean the results. Today in our team play many footballers, who are for a long time the members of the national team and adult – Sargis Hovsepyan, Karen Dokhoyan, Hamlet Mkhitaryan. I understand that we have to create the team of the future, I have that plan. However, at the moment it will not be right to rejuvenate the staff at once, inasmuch as in our group there are playing strong teams. We have to observe the balance, gradually to make the change of the generation. Now I am preparing an account, and I will submit it to the president of FFA as well as to the chief executive. I think that we can achieve a progress, so that to create the team of the future, we have all the prerequisites. There is the need of time. Today my task is to get ready for the forthcoming meetings with the national teams of Kazakhstan and Poland. In our team are playing some young footballers – Samvel Melkonyan, Edgar Maucharyan, Levon Pachadjyan- who are already considered to be the players of the main staff. In Armenia there are only 3-4 clubs, in the staff of which play young footballers who have potential. But they need playing practice, especially international. If we elaborate a good program, we will begin calling the young and promising footballers into play with the experienced ones, then at that time we can create a good team.

When I began leading the national team of Armenia, Berezovskiy was not playing. At that time he refused to play in the national team. Artavazd Karamyan also did not arrive. These footballers show big strength for us. Let us be sincere, if with the national team of Poland did not play Berezovskiy, then we could fully lose that game by 5:0 score. During the absence of Berezovskiy worthily substituted him Gevorg Kasparov. Now we have two good goal-keepers. However, one must think about future. In many teams of the highest league – “Pyunik”, “Mika”, “Banants” the goal-keepers are foreigners. We have only 8 clubs, and we need young goal-keepers, who could be able to substitute Roman Berezovskiy and Gevorg Kasparov. We need the change of footballers also in other positions. Armen Shahgeldyan, Sargis Hovsepyan, Raphael Nazaryan, Hamlet Mkhitaryan, Karen Dokhoyan fairly serve the national team and show themselves from the best side. Look how Sargis Hovsepyan is playing (he points at the field to Sargis Hovsepyan). Look how at this age he fully setting himself into the game, he scored a goal made a goal-scoring pass. We must support the experienced footballers, we need them very much.


When we played with the national team of Belgium and Finland, Karen Aleksanyan and Romik Khachatryan were absent, and at that time we did not have worthy replacement, we did not know who to substitute them with. And now the youth has grown up – Robert Arzumanyan, Gevorg Kasparov, Levon Pachadjyan, Alexander Tadevosyan, Aghvan Mkrtchyan, Samvel Melkonyan, Ararat Arakelyan. In “Pyunik”, “Banants”, “Ararat” appear new players, but we can not achieve a success at once. Manchester United has the possibility to invite any footballer, to sign a contract with the strongest ones, has the best coach of the world, but they needed four years, in order that to create a good team. What about us, then we do not have much choice of footballers in Armenia, we are looking for players in Russia, France... We try to develop Armenian football and we say to our fans, that we work in that direction. A successful game of the national team of Armenia can in many things be conducive to the growth of the country's authority, and why not, it can have an influence also on its economical development.