The 27-year-old football player of the Turkmenistan national team, who has experience in playing for the clubs of the Czech Republic, Latvia and our country, Ruslan Mingazov gave an exclusive interview to Turkmenportal. The conversation took place in Ashgabat. The famous football player shared his expectations of the upcoming draw for the qualifying tournament of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, speculated on the reasons for the weak performance of the Turkmenistan team at the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE and shared his impressions of the appointment of the Croatian specialist Ante Miše to the head coach of the national football team. This is the first part of the interview. In the next conversation we will talk about the plans of Ruslan Mingazov for the future and life in the Czech Republic.

- Ruslan, you were recently summoned to the national team of Turkmenistan. What was the reason for not coming?

- There was a call, for reasons of health I could not come. We talked to the coaches, met here in Ashgabat too. Impressions are good. You can see the European view, it is clear that people worked with young people, worked with large teams, national teams. Therefore, I think that for them it is a big challenge, but for us it is only a plus. I think that, as a coach, he says, everything can happen right away, but we will move step by step, and success will come. 

- There will not be everything. What does it mean?

- This means that immediately there will be no result. But step by step, we will strive for the best. It still takes time to adapt the coaches to us, and us to the coaches. I talk with the guys from national team and the coaches. I have good contact with one and the other. The guys are happy with the call to the national team, they are satisfied with the training process and the approach to them. When you feel that you are important even in the club, not to mention the national team, it's understandable that as soon as you are invited to the national team, this is a challenge for you. For me, it is a pride that they have caused me, and I can play for our team. So, I think, they waited for this, waited a long time, waited many that there would be changes. Many said that there would be a foreign specialist, and now we have received it. I also wonder what will come of it.

- So, you will look forward to a new call to the national team of Turkmenistan?

- Yes, since the age of 17 I always happily come to the national team of our country and almost never miss the matches. There were some difficulties, injuries, but now I look forward to the official games that will be held as part of the qualifying tournament of the 2022 World Cup. I think it will be good games both at home and away, which will allow you to feel the bright emotions from playing for the country. 

- Which teams would you like to see as rivals for the national team of Turkmenistan in the draw?

- Previously, I would have chosen the strongest rivals, but now I want to get passable teams. To be honest, really want to go further. There are no weak teams in the first pot. With the second one, too, a strong team can get caught, maybe Uzbekistan can get caught.  

- Or Kyrgyzstan. It would be great if?

- Kyrgyzstan? Why not?

- Since we started talking about Kyrgyzstan, FC Dordoi head coach Alexander Krestinin, who is part-time head coach of the national team of Kyrgyzstan, recently came to Ashgabat, and he said: «We have no sports facilities (in Kyrgyztsan - approx. editorial), but we are in the second pot at the World Cup-2022 draw, and you (in Turkmenistan - approx. editorial) have, and you are in the fourth pot for today»...

- I understand if the coach of the Uzbek footballers, who have always been there, said that. The national team of Kyrgyzstan just now got there. But this is an incentive! Stimulus and for us to play with them. From the second pot let them be, and we will be with from fourth pot in the same group! 

- The winning match FC Altyn Asyr with FC Dordoi in Ashgabat, not significant, do you think? In the opposing team, too, the backbone of the national team played.

- Of course! I think the FC Dordoi head coach just wanted to cheer up his guys or vice versa to put pressure on the fact that they are something higher. But I think the game showed who is stronger at the club level. At the level of national teams, the team of Kyrgyzstan is not so far from us, so that we are equal to it. I think that we could fight on equal terms with the Kyrgyz national team! It would be an interesting sparring.  

- What, in your opinion, is the reason for the weak performance of the national team of Turkmenistan at the Asian Cup 2019 in the UAE?

- I think now, when the emotions have subsided, we can say that the Asian Cup 2019 turned out to be ambiguous for us. We played unevenly in this tournament. There was a game with Japan, where we lost offensively, leading in the long run, made mistakes. At the end of the match, we only believed that we could beat them, but it was too late. Then there was a game with Uzbekistan, there was a change of tactics a little bit.

- What tactics have changed?

- Changed that we played «higher». In simple words, they wanted to play open football. They wanted to play «higher» at the opponents' goal. If the first game with Japan showed that we were compact, we played against defense, then we played with Uzbekistan not against defense. All decided the first two mistakes. Unfortunately, in the first half we missed 2 goals for ten minutes, and they were very influential in this confrontation. For example, before the first goal I felt that everything was fine, that everything would be fine. In football, so ... one, two ... and then it is hard to get together. For our team this would be a turning point. After the score was 0-2, the guys just didn’t recover. It was already difficult.

- The defeat with Uzbekistan, probably, also affected the result of the third match with Oman?

- Yes, the defeat worked. We tried to gather, and the coaches tried to raise the team spirit. But I will not say that there was a bad third game. The first led Oman, we leveled the score. It seems that the game has leveled off again, they could have also scored and missed. And in the second half, if there was not enough physical data, as if they could not stand it. Recall the game with Japan, ten minutes «turned off» - got three goals. The game with Uzbekistan, the first two mistakes - two goals. You can say the same about the game with Oman, the last five minutes - two goals.

- What can you say about the physical training of Turkmen football players? The first half is a good game, and it clearly showed the match with Japan. In the second - lose. It turns out that physical fitness is worse than that of rivals?

- I would not say that is worse. After all, the Turkmen FC Altyn Asyr reached the AFC Cup 2018 final and on equal terms, and in many respects even better, played with many Asian teams. A football player who plays for the national team must play at the club, and if he plays at the club, then he is physically ready in principle. If you play in a club, you have a game practice, you play in a championship and you are fine.

There may be a psychological moment. For the second time in 15 years we qualified for the Asian Cup, they lacked experience. With more experienced players could keep a convenient account. But in 15 years the generation has changed. When we won during the match, it was necessary to play more reliably. We played openly, made mistakes and got goals for it.

- In your career, you played against the «grandees» of Asian football - Iran, Japan. Who was harder to play against?

- Japan and Iran are big teams for us. But you can play with them, and we played with dignity. Both teams are good: the Japanese are stronger, Iranians can be more technical.

- Serdar Azmun, the striker of the Iranian national team with Turkmen roots, did not communicate?

- So, a little bit. He knows many guys from the national team of Turkmenistan. Many communicate with him, take pictures. In principle, he speaks Turkmen - well done! 

- In the UAE, during the Asian Cup, did the fans who came to the stadium support the national team of Turkmenistan. Did you feel their support?

- Yes! In the UAE, I communicated on the Internet with our fans and even helped them meet with the leadership of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. They did a great job, came to the games, danced, had fun, supported us. Many of them admitted that they had never before loved football and never went to matches. And then the Turkmenistan national team arrived at the tournament, and for the sake of their country they came to the stadium and fell in love with football. They have a sense of pride in the country. Indeed, 15 years have passed since our team won the right to participate in the final of the Asian Cup for the second time. So our participation in the main continental football tournament was also a holiday for them. Some football fans flew even from Ashgabat to the games with our participation. All fans are grateful for the support. And we felt it even though our fans in quantitative terms were inferior to fans from Oman. But how sick they were! They shouted that after the game they did not have a voice (laughs)!

- In the national teams of many countries there is a physical training coach for working with goalkeepers. Recently, in our national team also appeared appropriate coach. This, probably, should have a positive impact on the preparation of the team for the qualifying tournament of the 2022 World Cup?

- Of course, these are positive moments. I hope that the leadership of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan will give the Croatian specialists a chance to realize what they want. We must learn all that they present to us. After all, they have seen great football, have achieved great victories, and while they are here, we must learn from them. I think that the next qualifying tournament of the World Cup 2022 should show that we have players, talented guys, and we have a team that is not inferior to anyone. I hope so!

The new coach of the national team of Turkmenistan Ante Miše devotes a lot of time to joint activities, because, like in any sport, you need to rally the team in football. And he is trying to do it. I heard from the guys that they were at sea playing with balls in Abu Dhabi. In the Czech Republic, where I played, the team and I also went to paintball and go-karting. Ante Miše said that he will be happy, if the guys were friends with each other. Because time for gathering is not enough, as a rule, 10-12 days in total, and to rally the team is the most important thing.

The Leicester City FC footballers, when they won the  English Premier League, went to make pizza together. These are positive emotions. We also went with the previous team coach of Turkmenistan Yazguly Hojageldiyev to the zoo together at the training camp. Ante Miše  also does a lot of work to rally the team. And this, I emphasize, is important.    

- Do you believe that the national team of Turkmenistan will perform better in this qualifying round of the World Cup than in the previous one?

- The previous cycle was not bad. There were good games with Iran: at home we played in a draw - 1:1 and also could not lose at the away match.

- There is a hope that you can jump «above the head»?

- Only with these hopes you need to start this qualifying round of the World Cup. I think that now the coaching staff is trying to convey to the guys that they can do it, and in fact we can do one big thing. I personally expect more from this cycle: we have to take all the points in home games and on the road to beat those rivals we can do.