EURO 2012: Blokhin’s Ukraine ‘unpredictable’
KYIV: Ukraine Oleg Blokhin said on Thursday he was an
“unpredictable coach” as his Euro 2012 co-hosts prepared to face Sweden in their opening pool match on Monday ahead of tests with England and France.
“I was an unpredictable as a player and I am unpredictable as a coach. I don’t know how I am going to react,” the former European player of the year told a news conference in Kyiv.
Blokhin said that as co-hosts the young nation were under “a lot of pressure”, but added that he would try to ensure this would “not feed through to the players” once the tournament starts.
“I know what this country expects of us,” he added.
“My career as coach has taught me not to show my hand,” he said.
“Of course I am excited — I don’t know how I am going to sleep before the match. Before the match with Turkey (a warm-up which ended in a 2-0 defeat) I slept like a baby. But now I’ll doubtless be watching videos through the night,” he smiled.
“I didn’t like the match against Turkey but the team are doing better and is concentrated on the Sweden game.”
Ten Ukrainians suffered from food poisoning in Germany before the Turkey game but Blokhin said they had now recovered.
He added friendlies should not be taken over seriously.
“You should not assign too much importance to friendly matches — and a (good) performance is not possible with 11 sick players,” he reflected. AFP