Kaka: “The players gave everything on the pitch, but luck was not on our side”

“First of all, I want to thank our fans. They shared wonderful moments with us – almost one hour and forty-five minutes, up to the penalty shootout. And when it was time to finish this spectacle with a victory, to finally give them the joy they deserved, unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. However, I believe they still enjoyed the game itself.

Definetely, this is not the result we wanted. We knew that both Italy and Kazakhstan are strong teams in the playoffs. For any country, missing out on the Euro is a huge disappointment. Today, over the two matches, Italy came out the winner. But the main mistake was not today, it was earlier, during the qualifiers. That’s when we lacked concentration, the right attitude, and the emotions to solve the task in advance.

We were given another chance. And I can say: the players gave everything. I have no complaints against them. But luck was not on our side. We failed to convert many chances – both here and in Italy. And the penalty shootout turned out bizarre: four missed kicks… In futsal, anything can happen, but this was truly out of the ordinary.

As for the future: every player has their own decision to make. I asked the guys not to make public announcements yet, because we still need to talk. We understand that a generational change is ahead. But it must happen with the support of the current leaders. Maybe not everyone will stay, but some will remain to help the younger players. In the locker room it was very sad, even talk of retirement came up. But as they say, ‘morning is wiser than evening.’ We will discuss this further within the team.

And finally, once again I want to thank the fans. Even after the defeat they supported us, they supported the players. That means a lot. They want victories, but most importantly, they see that the team gave everything: energy, health, everything for the win. We won the match itself, but lost on penalties.

So I thank our fans and apologize for the final result. But today the atmosphere was incredible, and the support – simply fantastic.”