Andriy SHEVCHENKO: "By stretching yourself,you can enjoy beating the odds" 

"They say athletes have no childhood, for they get used to constant training and competition from their earliest years..."

"I agree: both in children's and then junior teams, I, as well as the whole team, was assigned maximum tasks, and the tournaments we took part in changed us at a kaleidoscopic rate. Naturally, you grow up quickly under such circumstances, and you develop goals, ambitions, and interests different from those of your peers. Sometimes I look at students and envy them in a good sense: I never had the chance to feel as if I was one of them."

"Once it was written that your teen years were most complicated for you. What helped you not to break?"

"It was certainly my sense of purpose and strong character. If you have a definite goal, you will surely reach it, overcoming all obstacles and displaying a fair share of self-assertion. This often happens in life: victories alternate with bitter failures, a white streak gives way to a black one, but these things are overcome by with continuous hard work."

"Some players get more pleasure in scoring a goal, while others in assists. What about you?"

"I derive the greatest pleasure when the team wins. It is not so important for me who scored the goal: the main thing is that the team whose colors I am defending has won. Some journalists, if you can call them that, like to charge that I keep the ball too much and fix the whole game on me. I believe if this were so, I would not have been kept by Dynamo Kyiv for long."

"What has given you the deepest satisfaction during your soccer career?"

"I never concentrate my attention on this because I have not yet won anything important. I hope great victories are round the corner, and when they come around, I will share my impressions."

"So, is it also too early to talk about your deepest disappointments?"

"To become disappointed means losing faith in yourself."

"I CANNOT IMAGINE MYSELF OUTSIDE SOCCER"

"A winning psychology has always been typical of Dynamo Kyiv players. Please explain this word combination on the level of personal feelings."

"A winning psychology means that absolutely all games should be won. Dynamo players should not be allowed to lose: each of us is well aware that he plays for a glorious club, and so he must always keep the team standards high ."

"I wonder what you are thinking about during your daily practice?"

"It is hard to think about anything at such moments; you only concentrate on the coach's instructions. On the other hand, you are sometimes overwhelmed with laziness in a training assembly camp and lose all desire to do anything. But, by stretching yourself, you can enjoy beating the odds."

"And did you ever, at least for a split second, harbor the thought of giving it all up?"

"Most emphatically not. I cannot imagine myself outside soccer and drive away all thoughts about what I do after my soccer career ends."

"Is there a soccer player you would like to play with?"

"It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer. On the one hand, I advocate collective play, when each of the players makes his own contribution to the common success, for one man cannot fight alone. On the other hand, I would play with pleasure next to such a great player as Zinedin Zidane. But this does not mean at all I am dissatisfied with my team partners."

"WE KEEP ALL OUR MOVES RECORDED"

"Let's talk about the show on the field. Dynamo Kyiv is known throughout the world for professing rational and pragmatic soccer aimed, by all accounts, at achieving the desired result. This is, of course, fine from a purely sports perspective, but maybe we should not forget that soccer is beautiful not only for the final results. I feel, for example, sad that the glorious "romantic" soccer once played by Latin Americans in general and Brazilians in particular has finally sunk into oblivion. Now we see practically no improvisation or unrehearsed combinations..." 

"This is indeed true, but soccer is always evolving, it never stands still, it moves onward toward total universalization. This is why soccer is beautiful not only in its unpredictability but also in a successful tackle, a well-thought-out combination, and in a well-chosen tactical scheme. We profess rational, not merely beautiful, soccer. As the phrase goes, we keep all our moves recorded."

"Figuratively speaking, Dynamo has only two top-class forwards: Andriy Shevchenko and Serhiy Rebrov. Do you feel any pressure from those on the bench?"

"I would like to repeat that no player, even the most talented and gifted, is in a position to determine the pattern of a game. No doubt, individual skills are very important, but even a golden nugget is worthless unless aided by his team mates. This is why the club's transfer policy is aimed at buying new players who would constantly compete and, later on, become a worthy replacement for the first-stringers."

"What about your personal relationship with Rebrov?"

"I don't know why, but there are people always trying to make Serhiy and me quarrel. Strange articles are being published about fictitious conflicts between us. I will reply very simply to these myths and tales: we respect each other highly, and our relationship is excellent."

"How do you manage to remain well-motivated, when Dynamo beats all the teams around?"

"There are also other goals besides the national championship or cup. Of course, we could defeat some of our domestic rivals without much strain, but then such relaxation would surely tell on the quality of our play; so by playing in the championship and Cup of Ukraine, we increase our preparedness and try out various tactical and technical patterns."

"Are there serious rivals in the national championship besides Donetsk Shakhtar?"

"I think so. Now Kryvy Rih's Kryvbas is coming up strong. Karpaty from Lviv and Dnipro from Dnipropetrovsk have somewhat given up their positions, but this does not mean they have bowed out of the race for medals. Naturally, it would be an exaggeration to speak about a real powerhouse, but competition does exist and over time gets tougher and tougher, which will greatly raise the Ukrainian clubs' chances in European cups."

"Andriy, you are often called a "phenomenon" and "miracle" of modern soccer. What in general do you think of such labels?"

"It is flattering to hear such things in my favor, but I take it with a good deal of salt."

"Is Kyiv Dynamo a closely-knit collective or a gathering of first-class soccer players?"

"Rather a closely-knit collective."