“Neither I nor the players can accept a match in which we will put a lot in our thinking to be good defensively and suffer,” he stressed
THE Ivan Jovanovich was clear and claimed victory speaking today at the press conference ahead of tomorrow’s (14/11) decisive match with England in the Nations League (B2 group), which will take place at OAKA and will start at 21:45. The coach of the national team, even though he knows that our team, by avoiding defeat, secures from tomorrow at least a place in the March play-offs against a third team in League A, explained that in front of his world he will go for the three points.
Because the English will be suspicious: “The truth is that to win in England we had to play a perfect game. If we want to win we have to play a perfect game again. England are a great team, the game might be more difficult. We have to show the same attitude as we did in the first game. Our performance must be very high to hope for a positive result.”
For the full stadium: “I said before the match at Wembley that the atmosphere will be fantastic, but it is up to the players, the same applies tomorrow. There will be many in the stands who will help us, but on the field it will be eleven against eleven and they will judge the match.”
If it’s a weakness that England don’t have a regular manager and will feature a lot of new players: “They are a great team, they may have some absences but they certainly have a huge pool of players. They are an excellent team and can easily cover their absences and win many things with new faces. We have no right that England can be at a lower level regardless of the absences they remain a very serious and strong opponent.”
As to whether the presence of the crowd is a testament to the effort of the National Team: “Of course, it is positive for all of Greek football and it is a message that the world loves football. When we have such good results, when we have such an effort from the players, it is no surprise that OAKA was full.
It is the thirst and we want to keep the interest of the people in the next games, because we also have several young players. It works positively because the big teams that play in big games or in Europe can do it but they also showed their thirst for the national team and we want to thank them and keep them warm for the next games in Greece as well as abroad, we had a strong presence in England as well”.
Because he is comfortable with two outcomes: “I want to be honest. People want to see a good performance from the team. The 60 thousand did not come to see the draw, which can happen. But we also cannot enter a full stadium and look for a draw.
We’re going to need a big show. A draw can never be an initial goal. Neither I nor the players can accept a match where we will put a lot in our thinking to be good defensively and suffer. We will never go into such a game with such an opponent thinking about two results.
We have to play another perfect game to beat England. Maybe in other games some intervals of the game will be enough, but not with England”.
On the call of 17-year-old Mouzakitis and what he saw in him: “It is a matter that a press conference is not enough. I believe that at the moment Greece, based on the population and based on the teams, we have a very large roster. From 25 to 26 players. One of my roles is to try to open up this roster with other players as well. My joy is great for children young in age to play in a big team. This can motivate more teams and more coaches. The demands of today’s players are much higher. The rest they have is getting less and less. There are also huge charges for the players the Nationals get. There are injuries and cards and my thinking is to open the roster with new guys and new players. To have more kids who live the atmosphere and have the goal of living it throughout their career.”
On the lack of time to work with the players and the fact that he focuses on discussions with them: “Look at the results is an important thing. Having made four wins, they also expected to gather for a game especially against England. They are a very good group who have very good relations. They understand what we want and do. They have very high spirits. It is normal because good results bring euphoria and people to the stadium. I am happy to have children who come here with joy and enthusiasm.”
For the training center of the national team: “I want to thank you for the question. I would like to thank PAE Olympiacos and the president Vangelis Marinakis for the facilities. We had 10 more players playing. We had full facilities to do a good restoration. These days we did this cycle at the Olympiakos training camp. The way games are played now. It is important to have good facilities in addition to the pitches. It is certainly a disadvantage with its successes that the National Team has not managed to have its own training center that unites all the teams. It is a bet that the management of EPO is thinking about very seriously. Greece is entitled to a training program that will cover all Nationals for both men and women. The internationals are entitled to it and the previous generations were also entitled to it.”
