President from Russia and coaching leapfrog
The Cyprus Championship at the moment mainly attracts the attention of domestic fans with the game of Alexander Kokorin.
The arrival of Alexander Kerzhakov to make the tournament even more interesting for them should the arrival of Alexander Kerzhakov.
According to the technical director of Karmiotissa, Antonis Antoniou, the coach will lead the team in the near future.
It remains for him to arrive in the country, discuss the details of the contract and sign it.
This was confirmed by club president Dmitry Punin.
“We are glad that Alexander has joined us, we hope for fruitful cooperation,” Sport-Express quotes him.
The proposal made to the specialist is not surprising, because the owner of the club, Punin, is a Russian entrepreneur.
He does not disclose the details of his activities, but there is a wine boutique Punin Wine on the island.
With the advent of the new owner, the team representing the village of Pano Polemidia with a population of 3.5 thousand inhabitants, has strengthened the composition.
For example, Kerzhakov will get the opportunity to work with former Zenit partner Tomas Gubochan, who played 73 matches for the Slovakian national team.
According to the total value of the players (€ 6.33 million), the newcomer of the elite division is in 11th place.
In the standings, the team is slightly higher - on the tenth line.
This is a good result for a club that has spent most of its history in amateur competitions.
Karmiotissa first rose to the top division quite recently - in 2016 and finished in tenth position.
The next year, the outsider still flew out, but quickly returned.
But this season the team is confidently leading in terms of the number of head coaches.
Four people managed to work with her, one of whom was Belarusian Alexander Khatskevich.
The specialist stayed only 43 days, although Karmiotissa showed good results under his leadership.
In six meetings, she scored three wins with one draw and two defeats.
However, after the defeat from AEK, the contract with the mentor was terminated.
The Cypriots Christos Harlampus and Sofronios Augusti also did not work for a long time: the first - the same 43 days, and the second - 53.
Tips from Byshovets and the example of Slutsky
No one guarantees that Kerzhakov will gain a foothold in the team, but he should be praised for his courage.
Russian coaches practically do not risk going abroad, if we do not take into account the countries of the former USSR.
As a rule, the language barrier prevents this, because few ideally speak at least English.
One of the rare reverse examples was Leonid Slutsky, who dreamed of trying his hand abroad.
In 2016, he left CSKA, with whom he won three sets of RPL gold medals, and went to England.
There, the former mentor of the national team actively studied the language and trained in top clubs.
As a result, in the summer of 2017, he took over the leadership of Hull City, who play in the Championship.
The cooperation turned out to be short-lived: the Tigers started the season unsuccessfully, and a few months later the specialist was fired.
Slutsky's European voyage did not end there: from 2018 to 2019, he worked for a little over a year in the Dutch Vitesse.
Anatoly Byshovets, another former helmsman of the Russian national team, also has experience in the Old World.
In 2003, he signed an agreement with Maritimu for a short period.
With a domestic mentor at the head, the Portuguese team played nine matches in which they won five victories.
There he managed to cross paths with Pepe and Miguel Danny.
The first will eventually cement the defense of Real for many years and take the gold of Euro 2016, and the second will become the star of the RPL in Dynamo and Zenit.
And in the early 90s, the Olympic champion went to Cyprus for a year, where he led the outsider of the AEL championship.
The Russian coped with the task assigned to him - the Limassol team not only did not fly out of the elite division, but also took a place in the middle of the table.
According to Byshovets, he initially flew to the country with his wife for a holiday and at the same time negotiated with the leadership of Benfica.
However, they were not easy.
Ironically, the owner of the hotel where the coach lived turned out to be the president of the AEL.
Having learned about the difficulties of the guest, he made him his own offer, and he accepted it.
A few days later, with a ready contract, Benfica returned, but it was too late.
The specialist admitted that 30 years ago football on the island was semi-amateur, but now the situation has changed a lot, as evidenced by the results in European competitions.
Before accepting Karmiotissa, he advised Kerzhakov to carefully study both the local league and the club itself.
“Alexander needs to find a person from local football who could enter his headquarters.
It is desirable that he also be Russian-speaking.
For example, before leaving for a particular country, I always talked with people who worked there.
As for the language, everyone on the island speaks fluent English.
The contract at that time was not bad, but I did not know about the main problem.
Inside the clubs there is full of intrigue.
Everywhere there are coaches who dream of taking your place, ”Byshovets spoke about the features of the Cypriot championship.
“I would be able to strengthen any club from the second half of the RPL”
At the same time, it is surprising that Kerzhakov did not find options in the RPL.
Although he spent only one season in the top division, he managed to prove himself well.
The specialist retained the modest Nizhny Novgorod in the elite.
The team took 11th place in the table, avoiding even joints.
At the same time, she regularly took points from the giants.
Sochi, Spartak, Dynamo and even Zenit turned out to be beaten.
Nizhny Novgorod achieved success with a very modest budget.
In a year under a young mentor, they spent less than €1 million on transfers and were strengthened mainly by young performers and free agents.
“I have no doubt that Alexander at the moment would be able to strengthen any club from the second half of the RPL table.
A specialist is always judged by results and work.
Few coaches with minimal means would have managed to keep Nizhny Novgorod in the Premier League.
Kerzhakov succeeded.
Wards really cut for him and gnawed glasses.
The task was solved, but the contract was not extended, ”said the well-known Russian specialist Sergey Yuran in a commentary to RT.
In the summer, Kerzhakov left Nizhny Novgorod, and Mikhail Galaktionov, mentor of the Russian youth team, took his place.
It seemed that after such a successful season, the coach would not be out of work for long.
So, in the summer there were rumors that he would head Torpedo, but in the end Alexander Borodyuk was replaced by Nikolai Savichev.
Right now, Alexander's prospects for working in the Premier League are rather vague.
Teams from the first half of the table are unlikely to be interested in him.
And the clubs from the second one are unlikely to make changes in the near future.
Sochi invited Kurban Berdyev.
"Ural" took off up with Viktor Goncharenko.
Igor Osinkin has been successfully working with Wings of the Soviets for several years, and Nizhny Novgorod was only headed by Artyom Gorlov, and the coach himself will not want to return there.
It makes no sense to talk about outsiders located below, with the exception of Lokomotiv, since their future will depend on solving the problem of maintaining a place in the elite.
"The authority of Kerzhakov will earn quickly"
According to RT experts, in such a situation, a young specialist should never take a long pause.
It is better to continue to work, even in the championship at a lower level.
“I think that Kerzhakov, having gone to Cyprus, does not lose absolutely anything.
Look, the man is only 40 years old and has his whole career ahead of him.
Why not go to Karmiotissa now and get the most important experience?
I think he is quite capable of showing himself there, ”Motherland coach Igor Kolyvanov suggested.
Sergey Yuran also agreed with him, who is sure that his colleague was invited to the Cypriot team for a reason.
He believes that they have carefully watched his latest successes in Nizhny Novgorod and are ready to trust him.
Now Kerzhakov will receive no less important experience in Europe, which most of his compatriots do not have.
According to Yuran, he will easily find a common language with wards from other countries, since the players there are great professionals and clearly fulfill all the requirements of the headquarters.
The rich playing career of a coach, which ended quite recently, should also arouse respect in them.
“Personality is always perceived well by footballers.
They know that he himself has achieved considerable success, was called up to the national team, played in European competitions.
People will understand perfectly well that a person did not learn from books, but went through a good school.
The authority of Kerzhakov will earn quickly, ”the expert suggested.
Moreover, he has experience of performing abroad.
From January 2007 to February 2008, the ex-striker defended the colors of the Spanish Sevilla, with which he also won the UEFA Cup.
And his penultimate club was Zurich.
In it, the Russian spent six months and managed to win the Swiss Cup.
RT experts are also confident that even if Kerzhakov is not currently fluent in foreign languages, this should not hinder him.
“When I came to play in Serie A, I didn’t speak Italian at all.
Nothing, after two months he was already talking calmly.
I am sure the same will happen with Kerzhakov.
First, he will be provided with an interpreter, and then he will communicate on his own.
Yes, and he probably knows English, ”Kolyvanov explained.
In summary, going to Cyprus, the young coach does not risk anything.
Even if he does not stay at Karmiotissa for a long time, like his predecessors, he will still gain invaluable experience.
A local failure is unlikely to seriously lower his shares in the eyes of Russian clubs.
But successful work is able to attract the attention of stronger teams to the Russian.
So this stage of his career can serve as a good springboard for him.