Anatoliy Demyanenko: "Tbilisi tournament is one of the strongest on the veteran level in Europe"

12.01.2019 13:10

January 13 in Tbilisi holding already of the traditional tournament "Cup of Legends" will honor the memory of football official David Petriashvili.

The national team of Ukraine among veterans will become a permanent participant of the prestigious competition, which will be held for the third time. Her coach Anatoliy Demyanenko invited the country's best players of the past years to the team, hoping for a positive result.

- Our team sets itself the most serious tasks in all tournaments and matches in which it participates, - says Anatoly Vasilyevich. - We represent the honor of football Ukraine and try to carry the blue and yellow flag with dignity. The tournament in Tbilisi is very interesting, I will not be mistaken, calling it one of the strongest at the veteran level in Europe, and maybe in the world. Each team has big names, world and European champions, winners of the Champions League and national championships. It is very interesting to play, different football schools, equipment, skills ... Footballers enjoy going out on the field. As, in fact, and spectators - in the local palace of sports usually do not find free seats.

- In the first two tournaments the winner was the national team of Georgia. What is interesting about this team?

- It includes well-known to our fans Kakha Kaladze and Georgy Demetradze. The Georgians are technical, quickly adapted to the conditions of the game and score a lot. Playing against them is difficult and interesting at the same time. This year, if we meet them in the playoffs, we will try to take revenge. For me, Georgia is a special country in general, I have many friends there. I am already waiting for a meeting with my partner in the USSR national team Alexander Chivadze, other guys from that galaxy. Together we are interested, there are always many topics for conversation.

- There are many big names in the national team of Ukraine. Were you able to invite everyone you wanted?

- In our expanded list there are more than fifty wonderful football players. But some of them have jobs, some do not allow injuries… In general, we try to vary the composition, to give everyone the opportunity to once again wear a T-shirt of the national team of Ukraine. Vitaliy Reva will be in the goal, Serhiy Nagornyak, Eduard Tsikhmeistruk, Andriy Vorobey, Serhiy Nazarenko and others will be in the field. Also in our team is my Dynamo partner Vasyl Rat, on the coaching bench is Volodymyr Lozynsky. Thanks to Oleg Sobutsky, the team is provided with everything necessary, has excellent conditions for training, every week in the warm season holds friendly matches. We will make our debut in the new football year with the tournament in Tbilisi.