Ukraine manager Oleksii Tarhonskyi: The behavior of the Swiss was strange and unpleasant

19.11.2020 19:40

Photo by Yevhen Kraws

The manager of the national team of Ukraine Oleksii Tarhonskyi told some details about the cancellation of the UEFA Nations League match against Switzerland.

- The last gathering turned out to be one of the most unusual. Tell as an eyewitness what happened in Switzerland.

- I took part in this gathering not only as an eyewitness, but also as a direct organizer, so I clearly understand everything that happened there. It is easier to present events in chronological order.

We arrived in Switzerland on November 15, and there were no problems at the airport. We were met, given transport. We arrived at the hotel, settled in, everything was fine. The problems started after we received the test results. After that, the Swiss, namely the medical committee of the region, began to behave somewhat strangely.

We were asked to appear at the stadium at 17.00 pm on the pre-game, a very important day and to take the tests there again before training. At the same time we were not provided with a locker room. It was strange, because the team should feel comfortable, before training, if necessary, use the toilet, drink tea, do a massage. For our part, we offered to take tests at the hotel at 16.00, then we would have time and training was not interrupted.

The organizers allegedly made concessions to us, sent representatives of the laboratory to do tests at the hotel, but at 17.00. We did the tests, but since the training was scheduled for 18.00 pm, everything went wrong. We arrived at the stadium, there were closed locker rooms, players wore boots right in front of the pitch. There was no opportunity to use the toilet, drink tea. It was strange and unpleasant from such a discriminatory attitude. To some extent, the training was disrupted.

The second and very important point. We found out that the game was canceled for unknown reasons from an official letter and directly from the doctor, the head of the medical service of the canton of Lucerne. The doctor referred to Swiss law and in no way took into account the UEFA Regulations. We were told that we had to be in a 10-day quarantine, or, as a concession, we were allowed to fly the next day on a charter flight.

As a result, we managed to take off, but the flight was postponed from 12 to 14 o'clock local time. And in general we did not do very well at the airport in Zurich. It is clear that we were in a quarantine state, but we were treated like lepers, everything happened at a distance, it was very unpleasant. At the same time, we all had negative tests. The fact that we were right was confirmed by the fact that in Boryspil, after returning from Switzerland, we passed the tests in a laboratory accredited by UEFA, and all of them were negative.

- Directly on the matchday you had a meeting with a doctor from the canton of Lucerne, what did he say, what was the atmosphere in the meeting room?

- All our management and this doctor were in the negotiation room. He immediately made it clear that he viewed the game solely from a medical point of view, so the news could be negative for us. The doctor noted that he was guided solely by the regulations of the canton of Lucerne, according to which, if the team has an infection, the game can not be played. Although according to the UEFA Return Protocol, if we have 13 players in the team with negative tests, we can play the game in peace. In addition, due to the fact that the tests were positive even in two players who recently fell ill with Covid, and therefore caused some doubt, we offered Dr. Lucerne to test us again. We offered to pass the tests of the 17th, wait for their results and play the match of the 18th by those players who were in Switzerland as part of the national team of Ukraine. But the doctor did not agree to this offer and added that he did not mind Switzerland beating us on the football field, because he is a fan of football and his team. 

- Speaking directly about the national team of Ukraine, was it set up and ready to play?

"Of course!" Head coach Andriy Shevchenko was preparing for the last game. On the day of the match, there was even a pre-game meeting, which started at 10.30 and took place online. At the same time, I saw that the Swiss national team was just as serious about the game. Therefore, I believe that the decision of the Lucerne authorities was wrong.

I also want to add that the hosts gave us a pitch to train on the day of the game of very poor quality. We drew their attention to this, the correspondence was conducted by the General Secretary of our association. The Swiss promised to prepare the pitch, but in the end it turned out to be in such unsatisfactory condition that there was a risk of injuries.