Chingiz Yessenamanov: “I will support the Kazakhstan national team, but now as a spectator”

“The match against Italy was very tough. It is hard, especially when playing for the national team, and in front of our own fans. I think it has been a long time since we lost in this way. But this is sport – someone wins, someone loses. Today, luck turned away from us.

I have been with the Kazakhstan national team for 16 years. I started playing for the national side when I was 20. I am not a sentimental person, but I told the guys that it was a pleasure to play alongside them, the atmosphere in the national team has always been the best. This is sport, this is life. I had a lot of injuries, I always proved myself and went out onto the pitch. But now it is already difficult to prove anything in the national team. I believe we have a good new generation coming through, and I will be supporting them already as a spectator. Definetely, I didn’t want to finish under such circumstances, with a defeat. But this is sport, and you have to move on.

Victories are remembered most of all. A career is long, and some things can be forgotten. But the brightest matches stay in your memory forever. For example, the victory over the reigning world champions Portugal, the win over Italy at the European Championship when they were the reigning champions. At every major tournament we managed to knock out favorites: Iran as well – what a match that was! I played almost 120 games for the national team, and many of them became memorable. Defeats are also remembered, but a professional has to let them go quickly. So now – today we will be sad, tomorrow we will still be sad, but already on Saturday there are important club matches.

It is always a pleasure to play in Astana. The arena is wonderful, the conditions are excellent. Here it is impossible to step out with any thought other than winning. We won the match itself, we did everything we could, we fought back where needed. But we lost on penalties – sometimes luck just isn’t there, sometimes we miss our chance.

I want to thank the fans. There will always be those who, after defeats, will say everything is bad. But I believe that 99% of our people always support their team, their nation.”