The head coach of the Armenian national team, Vardan Minasyan, gave an exclusive interview to the official FFA website, referring to the changes taking place in modern football, explained the features of the “Armenian” style of play and mentioned the coaches and players who had a great impact on him.
– Mr. Minasyan, let’s try to summarize 2012 first. How do you think it was for our national team and our football?
– If I try to formulate it as briefly as possible, I will say that for objective and subjective reasons, the past year was not very successful for us in terms of results, especially if we compare it with 2010-2011.
– According to you, is modern football very different from the football of the 90s, when you were still a football player?
– Of course, it differs a lot, because the human factor is present here. A person is always developing both physically and mentally. That’s why now the fight is more powerful and the speeds are even higher.
– There is an opinion that football used to be a game of bright personalities, but now the role of coaches has increased. Do you share that opinion?
– To some extent, I agree, because now tactical tasks and schemes have come to the fore, but no matter how much you apply them or give some tasks, the performer is the football player. In general, I have now begun to pay attention to the development trends in modern football, because now everyone has learned to play football, has certain tactical schemes, team defense. There are 2 very important factors here. The first is transitions from defense to attack and vice versa. Teams that successfully make these transitions achieve higher results. And the most important thing is the individual qualities of the football player, because now all teams defend very densely and collectively, as a result of which the individual skill of the football player is pushed to the forefront. It is these factors that affect football a lot.
– In modern football, long-term mental work precedes the actual game, new software and technological solutions also play a big role. Is all that in our football?
– Of course there is, it won’t happen without it, because analysis is a very important factor in football. Even after victories, you should analyze what you won at the expense of. On the purely statistical side, the federation has analytical software that has been provided to the national team and that helps us a lot.
– What are the new trends in world and European football today? How do these trends relate to us?
– It was quite an interesting question. When we participated in the PRO license courses, we followed 6 matches of the European Championship, after which we necessarily analyzed them, comparing what we saw and the statistics. We noticed an interesting trend that most teams were trying to play dominant football and have more possession. It was particularly interesting in the sense that although the result is the most important thing in modern football, teams tried to play risky football. That change was particularly vividly demonstrated by the example of the Italian national team. Prior to that, the Italians have always played pragmatic football using their famous ‘catenaccio’, but either at the behest of their current manager or modern football, they have been playing very attractive football this year. Even in the final against Spain, they did not give up their tactics and played in the same way.
– Are there coaches whose work style and game philosophy are close to your heart?
– Of course there are. First of all, I have worked with many coaches as an assistant since 2003. Each of them gave something new to Armenian football. The approaches of Samvel Darbinyan and Ian Porterfield were very close to my heart, both in terms of football and people. And speaking of current coaches, I like Arsene Wenger’s work.
– What is the most important thing in the relationship between a coach and a football player?
– In general, all football players are bright personalities, and you should communicate with them as equals. I attach great importance to the team atmosphere in my work. The coach must be able to understand what the player wants, try to get into his situation and achieve everything by explaining. Believe me, it’s easier that way.
– You often mention that to be invited to the national team, a football player must meet 3 criteria, one of which is patriotism. What is your definition of patriotism?
– I never give up on those 3 criteria set by me, but the primary one among them is patriotism, because now football is not just a game, but a profession and a job. Football stops being a game when you sign a professional contract. As we know, a football player’s career is very short, 10-15 years, and during that time he should be able to earn enough to live on. That’s why the financial side is in the foreground here. And if we talk about the national team, there can be no mention of finances. Here, the only motivation for a football player to play should be patriotism. If a football player loves his country, he comes to the team with great desire and does everything possible on the field. In this sense, everything is fine in our current team.
– There are different styles of football: German, British, Italian, Brazilian, Spanish. And, in your opinion, what is the playing style of Armenian football, and what has changed in our playing style over the years?
– To tell the truth, even at the level of teams, there is now a trend of globalization. For example, the playing style of the German national team has now become much more attractive and attacking, which is probably due to the emergence of new players from different backgrounds, each of whom brings something new to German football. And if we are going to talk about the Armenian national team, then the style in which we are playing now is close to our hearts, that is, the game with short and medium passes. If we try to show the kind of football that the teams of the Scandinavian countries play, we will not succeed, because we are not endowed by nature with the necessary data for such football. That’s why I think we should continue to play in this style, which is somewhat close to the Spanish one.
– Does your joy after the 3rd goal in the match against the Slovakian team indicate that you want to see this kind of football performed by the team?
– Our team, with some exceptions, has almost always played good football. The team now has a clear style of play, which is very important. Therefore, I cannot say that this moment was an exception. The team had other good games as well.
– And can you mention the most beautiful and important goals scored by the national team under your leadership?
– In terms of combination, the most beautiful goal of the team was the 2nd goal scored in the Yerevan match against the Andorran team. I also really liked the 3rd goal you already mentioned against Slovakia. Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s goal against the Lithuanian national team was almost of the same style. And the most important was Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s 2nd goal in the away match with Slovakia. That goal was the breakthrough and helped to celebrate the victory.
– If you were given the opportunity to make the world’s all-time symbolic team, who would be in it?
– It is very difficult to answer that question immediately. I would like to mention the football players that I have personally seen play, because I have not seen the football players who played before the 80’s and only read about them. The goalkeeper would probably be Rinat Dasaev. If I try to mention in a mixed order, among the attackers, Oleg Blokhin’s game left a great impression on me. Among the attacking players, I cannot mention Zidane, Raul, Figuy, Stoichkov. We should also mention Khoren Hovhannisyan, who was a very high-level football player, and if there were current opportunities at that time, he would definitely play in a high-class European club. I mention mostly attacking football players, because that style is close to my heart. If we talk about the defenders, maybe it will be surprising for many, but I really liked the game of Alexander Chivadze. Many can be mentioned, it’s just difficult to decide at once, because there have been many good football players.
– Can you name the 3 best football players you played with?
– I can mention Sargis Hovsepyan, because for me he has always been a standard of a professional football player. Naturally, Khoren Hovhannisyan is one of the best, because I managed to play alongside him in Hometown, and his influence on me was very great. And I can say that, despite his young age, Edgar Manucharyan, with whom I also managed to play for about a year, left a great impression. He had such qualities that he was able to move to Ajax at such a young age.
– Is there something that you did not achieve during 2012, but would like to achieve in 2013?
– In general, it is not part of my principles to regret what I did or didn’t do, right or wrong steps. Naturally, I analyze everything, but I don’t focus on them, because if you can’t change something, there’s no point in focusing. However, I would like 2013 to go better for the team than 2012.
– Your wish to our football fans on the occasion of the upcoming holidays.
– First of all, I wish peace to our people, especially considering the recent events in the world and the fact that many issues are still not settled for our country. Naturally, I wish our nation health. It is very important to be physically and mentally healthy. And the third thing I would like to wish our people is prosperity.
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/ru_RU/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6&appId=403315783090535”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=429534133762584”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));