Mikhail Kopolovets: "The cup doesn't forgive the underestimation"

18.07.2018 15:47

Photo by www.fcminaj.com

The first preliminary stage of the Cup of Ukraine started yesterday. Today will kick-off the rest of the fights. Mykhailo Kopolovets, an experienced midfielder of FC Minai, shared his thoughts on participating in the tournament:

- When I spent my best period in my football career playing for Lviv's Karpaty, unfortunately, there were cases when we lost at the start of the Ukrainian Cup to rivals who took significantly lower places in the standings. Probably, this was due to underestimation, which negatively affected the fighting qualities, and therefore in a difficult moment it was not possible to tilt the scales to his side. You know, cup battles have their own subtext, disrespect is not forgiven here…

- Probably, you have already told about these nuances to your teammates. In what mood does Minai go to Rivne region, where he will face Veres?

- I think we were unlucky with the draw, because we have to play away. And here there were some personnel problems: the main goalkeeper Dmytro Babenko did not recover from the injury, the team captain Ihor Vagin will not be able to help due to the injury, negotiations are still underway with some potential newcomers.

On the other hand, Minai does not lack experienced footballers, and we will try to achieve a positive result. Moreover, in case of victory, we will be able to host an opponent from the first league in the next round, and this will help popularize the club.

- What do the club management and fans expect from the Minaya football players in the new season?

- We haven't talked about this topic with club bosses yet. But our plans are ambitious.