Alexander Kuznetsov: "Granatkin Memorial gave us a lot of food for thought"
- We are grateful to the organizers for the invitation. This tournament is jubilee, and it is a great honor for us and great experience. The Granatkin Memorial tornament gave us a lot of food for thought. On the eve, we devoted almost two hours to the theoretical lesson, carefully prepared for the game. We respect our neighbors, but in the first match there was a misunderstanding, because we played 65 minutes in the minority. If we consider the matches, where we played in full, then we won two of three. Also I would like to note three moments. The first is that the players tried to do their best. Even they managed to play out in the minority. This factor shows the nature of the players. The second thing that we gained international experience in games with good teams. And the third, very important factor for us is that we defeated the Turkish national team, which would play in the finals and is the bronze medalist of the European Championship. We have the potential, but we should work hard. I think that we conceded only in one game - with the team of St. Petersburg. They won the Russian national team and have reached the final. St.Petersburg football players are more played. It's really interesting, that the teams from our group will play in the decisive match. To summarize, I will say that from October 8 to October 16 we will have FIFA time, we will have to gather, do work on our mistakes. We have qualifying matches in November. Friendly matches do not give such emotions. Since the guys are playing in the second youth league, where there is more training than solving the tournament tasks, I think the clubs will easily release the players to the national team. And now I want to thank my colleagues, coaching staff, especially ''Astana'', that they let players to take part in this tournament. This suggests that they also want to help the players. Thanks a lot! I hope that our work will benefit the clubs. October 4 "Astana" will play a match of the Champions Youth League, and the Granatkin tournament will help them as they already have had the experience in the international matches.
