Michal Bilek: 'There will be many debutants in the match against Moldova'

20 February 2019, 15:48

Head coach of the Kazakhstan national team, Michal Bilek, in an interview with the press service of the Kazakhstan Football Federation, told about the current preparation in Turkey and the upcoming friendly against Moldova and also shared his plans for qualifying matches with Scotland and Russia.

- Michal, please tell us about the preparation. What did you put emphasis on?

- I expected that it would be possible to gather the strongest players, but it did not happen, because we are not playing on the official FIFA dates. Despite this, many clubs let their players go to this preparation. Thank you for your assistance! We must understand that the national team is the main team of the country. In all championships clubs work for the benefit of the national team. That's the way how it works. On the other hand, our coaching staff was able to see some other players, including youth. I said the invited players that for them it would be a chance to show their skills. They understand that.

- What is your overall reaction about our football clubs and players in Kazakhstan?

- This is a difficult question, because all of the teams are now holding training. Players are working hard. In many matches that we watched, the teams played the first half with one squad, the second with another. We watched about 15-16 test matches. Also met and talked with many coaches of Kazakhstani teams. We talked with the head coaches of ‘Astana’, ‘Kairat’, ‘Ordabasy’, ‘Tobol’ and some other teams. We learned the opinion of our colleagues about the players, got a lot of useful information.

- Earlier, you announced an expanded list of Kazakhstan national team players. Were there any other players in our teams who had been not on that list, but they surprised you with something?

- As mentioned earlier, the expanded list was compiled by my assistants. All the best players of Kazakhstan were included in it. The upcoming match with the national team of Moldova will be difficult, because there will be many debutants in our team. Nevertheless, football players approach this game with responsibility, because they understand that when the players of ‘Kairat’ and ‘Astana’ arrive, they may not be included in the final list in March. However, at the training camp we paid attention to many other young players. For example, there are 2-3 interesting young players in the squad of ‘Kairat’ and in FC ‘Astana’.

- I would like to know the opinion about the upcoming friendly against Moldova? What can you say about your opponent?

- In this match I want to give a chance to all the players, so I will not limit the number of substitutes on the bench. Of course, each of the players will have the opportunity to play a certain amount of time. We watched a few games of the Moldova national team, they play compact and tough football. However, we know that our opponent will also play their reserve. Now I am more interested in the game of the Kazakhstan national team.

- The Kazakhstan Championship starts with the match for the Super Cup and after, two championship rounds will take place. So, how are you going to prepare for the 2020 European Championship qualifying matches?

- We have already informed the players who were not able to come here, about how the national team will play. Definitely, we will visit the match for the Super Cup, look at the players of the team live. Then we will watch matches of two rounds. We also want to ask to move the dates of the matches of the second round to the earliest dates so that the team will have the opportunity to gather earlier.

- Our fans are interested in: will you appoint the captain of the team or will the team choose him?

- I know that in the UEFA Nations League your team had several captains. Now we need to think about this issue. It is not known who of the leaders will fit for the games that will be in March.