John van ’t Schip: «We need to build a strong and united team in a short period of time»

– Last weekend, you attended the match between Elimai and Kairat. What were your impressions of the game, and which players particularly caught your attention?

– Of course, it's always nice to travel, look around and experience new surroundings. So, this time I went to Semey to watch the game. Overall, it was an interesting game. I think Elimai were okay in the first half, but they actually made two mistakes, and Kairat were very efficient. They scored two goals from three opportunities.

After that, they were actually in control of the game until the red card. In the second half, Elimai came back into the game and tried to put more pressure on Kairat. So, yeah, it was an interesting game. I look at the players, of course, who are available for the national team.

So, I paid special attention to watching some players closely who could be available for the team.

– It has been almost a month since you were appointed head coach of the Kazakhstan national team. What have you managed to do during this period?

– We've been working hard, watching games and looking at a large number of players. In addition, we're already making progress with presentations for the upcoming training camp, materials for team meetings and planning training sessions, and, of course, explaining to my staff the way that I want to play.

– Have you had any conversations with the players who could be on your final list?

– You mean direct talks with them? I had a few small meetings – or not meetings, but just handshakes with a few players at the game or at the airport. I had one talk with Satpayev from England on FaceTime, just a short one, maybe two minutes. So, nothing special.

I will try to talk with every player when we come into camp, just have a short personal chat to get to know each other. We don't have that much time because there's going to be a lot that we have to do in 17 days, something like that. So, yeah, we'll talk more then.

– How has the process of getting to know the members of your coaching staff been? How is your work together going?

– It's actually going very well. I met my coaching staff, and we divided up who was going to do what. And of course, we have the conditioning and strength coach. I have two assistants – two former national team players who are also big names in the Kazakhstan league. So they help me a lot. Of course, I have the goalkeeper coach, and then the people around that as well. So we've already had a lot of meetings, and we now understand each other well, and they know what I want. And of course, every day we continue making programmes and looking at games and players.

– Together with your coaching staff, you have visited several cities and attended a number of matches.

– First of all, every time, it's a long journey. I'm used to travelling, of course. I worked in Australia and had to fly a lot there as well. But now, in a very short time, I'm travelling to a lot of games.

I think the league is good, it's well organised. Of course, looking at the stadiums and the facilities, I think Kazakhstan can improve a lot to catch up with other countries in Europe. At the same time, they're already making progress in doing that.

But yeah, that's only a good thing, that there's still a lot of progress to make. And hopefully, they can start doing that with the clubs, with the government, to close that gap that maybe now is here, to make it smaller. I think it's important for the league, but also for players from Kazakhstan.

– Were there any cities that pleasantly surprised you? Perhaps there was a particular story from your trips that you remember?

– It has been very pleasant everywhere. I travelled to watch Tobol play in a European competition and saw the game between Zhetysu and Ordabasy, which was the first match I attended. I have been to Turkistan, Aktau near the Caspian Sea, and now Semey. In a short period of time, I have already managed to visit many different places.

People are friendly and try to help and make me feel comfortable. Of course, my main task during these trips is to watch matches and players. Before or after a game, I also try to taste traditional food and experience what people have to offer.

The impressions have been very positive, and I have been warmly welcomed everywhere.
 

– You have announced the extended squad for the national team’s upcoming games. What qualities did you focus on when selecting players for the extended squad?

– First of all, of course, the quality of the player in their specific role. The way that I want to play, I try to see if that player can maybe fit in that way of playing.

So that's important. They have to have a certain level of fitness. Then, of course, it's also important that they have experience, but also good energy. So I'm not scared to give young players a chance if I think they have the quality, because they sometimes can give something extra to a team as well.

So it has to be a good mix of everything. But first of all, the quality is important, the fitness is important, and that's what we all are looking at.

– When will you announce the final squad?

– After the next playing round, I think we will have the biggest part of the squad in mind. And then maybe a few days after, we will decide on the last players who are now maybe a little bit uncertain, as we need to know maybe a bit more about their physical situation.

So I hope by the end of next week. September 7th is on Monday, so somewhere around the 11th or 12th, I think we will finalise the squad.

– Looking ahead to the next international break, how open is the squad to new players? Are there any players who have not been included in the current list but remain under consideration by the coaching staff?

– All the players are under consideration – the young players, the experienced players who maybe haven't been with the national team for a while, players who have been injured and are now coming back. So we are monitoring all the players. And if a player now maybe is not selected, it doesn't mean that next time he cannot be selected. It's also about the situation that the player is in. We keep looking.

It's a national team, so that's the good thing: you can always pick a player in the next camp who maybe isn't here now.

If a player is here now and doesn't perform well, maybe he doesn't get picked for the next camp. That's how it works with the national team.

– Our players and our club Kairat will play in the final stage of the Conference League, while Stas Pokatilov will play in the Champions League. Is it good for the national team that they will have more game time at the end of the year, in November and December? Our matches will finish in November.

– December is not important for me, of course, but November is, because we play our last two games on the 12th and 16th of November. So it's important that the players stay in good fitness until that period for the national team. And of course, if they continue playing in Europe, I think it's only good for themselves. For us, it's important that players keep playing and keep training until mid-November.

– Earlier, you said that you talked with Dastan Satpayev, and he made his debut for Burnley in the Championship. How do you assess this step in his career, and how closely are you following his adaptation to English football?

– I don't want to make an exception for one player. I gave an answer that I talked with him because it happened. The thing that I can say, I think it's important that players make a move when it's possible, like Satpayev now making the move to England. And we all hope that he will succeed, because that also gives good publicity to Kazakhstan football, but also to young players that see that there's a dream that you can achieve if you work hard, if you have talent, that you can also make a move to Europe if they want, of course, to a big club.

I think that's only good for the national team and for the football in Kazakhstan. For example, in the national team of Holland, I think all the players that play in the line-up are not playing in Holland anymore. They're all playing in bigger leagues – in Spain, in England, in Germany, in France – because that also lifts their level. So, yeah, I think it's only good if that happens. And we hope that Satpayev does well, and until now he has done well.

– Based on your observations, what is the players' current physical condition ahead of the upcoming national team matches? Are there any concerns in this regard?

– There are a few concerns, as I told you. That's maybe why we have to wait for next week for a few players to see how they develop. But overall, most of the players are playing regularly in their team, so they have game time. And the few players that maybe are not playing enough, we have to look how it's going and what kind of player they are. Are they players that also maybe can play without maybe not playing too much at the club? So these are decisions that we will make next week.

– In Kazakhstan, we have two things that we can use for our success: visiting teams coming to Astana and playing on artificial grass, which is something we can use to win games. And our championship is played from March until November. In September, our players are more fit, they have more practice, while players from Europe are just starting their championships. Is it good for us that our players are more fit?

– I think there's no big difference now, because we play our games at the end of September, and a lot of the teams already start in July with qualification games for Europe, and so, and they have also pre-season. So when we play our games at the end of September, there will be no difference.

We can say the Kazakhstan players are in mid-season or even more at the end of the season, but the other teams are at the start of the season and they're fresh and they are, you know, fit as well. So it's always talking, talking. The most important thing is what happens on the pitch, and the players have to show that they're fit when we play the game, regardless of whether it's mid-season for them and the other team is playing only like two months in the league.

– Your first matches as head coach of the Kazakhstan national team are approaching. What do you expect from the team, and what objectives have you set for the upcoming fixtures?

– I think the most important thing, because we have very short time and we're also getting used to each other and we're new, is that the players have to be fully focused, fully concentrated in the training sessions, in the video presentations, to understand what we want to do, and that we in a very short time create a strong group to achieve results.

I think it's not easy. The first two games we play away, but we have to be strong and show directly that we understand what we want. What we want is we want to make progress and we want to have results. So, and therefore everybody has to be focused and fully concentrated in the camp. It's not a holiday. It's important, and we play against countries that, yeah, they're good as well, so we have to be prepared.