KUCHER: “It so happened that we conceded three goals and scored three goals”

SC “Dnepr-1” head coach Alexander Kucher He made a comment against the Cypriot AEK (0:3) in the 4th round of the Europa League qualifiers.

– How difficult was today’s game for you?

– I will not say that it was very difficult for us to play. We hoped to go further, we tried to win, but the match went so well that we conceded three goals and scored three goals. Of course, there were mistakes to be avoided. We talked about it with the kids, we got attention, but we had some kind of bad luck today. Of course, I can’t blame the guys who struggled – they wanted to win and played with great enthusiasm. I have no complaints about them here. But today the winner is AEK, which I want to congratulate on this victory and which is in the Europa League group. We wanted to be there too.

– In what way was AEK stronger today? Maybe your opponent surprised you in some way?

– There was no innovation from the rival side for us. We played as planned. But I repeat, those mistakes we made in defense, we prepared for all of them. We knew how Gyurcho moved to the center and we were supposed to wait there, but apparently we closed it. His second goal, even though the kick is off, I don’t understand at all how the ball got into the goal. The third goal was when we went to make up and the opponent counterattacked. We should have scored in today’s game, but the AEK goalkeeper played well, saving his team and parrying a lot of shots.

– Will the situation in Ukraine affect the team’s performance?

– Of course, all this is not easy, it is difficult. We are all worried that this is the situation in Ukraine. And there are very disturbing moments because we live one day.

– How hard was it to prepare for the matches?

– We now have a music video for 15 people. Many do not want to come to us because of the war in Ukraine. Yes, we prepared in Slovenia, then there was a move to Slovakia, we are always in suitcases. We played here today, and on August 28 there was already a match against Dynamo Kiev in Lvov. You will need to fly to Poland and then take a bus to Lviv for a few hours. We will always be on the road. So it always will be.

– There were a lot of Ukrainian fans in the stadium today. Did it help the team?

– Yes, of course, we heard support, and I personally felt it. There were many Ukrainian fans living in Cyprus. All of them are beautiful. Thank you for supporting us. It was very important to us.