The footballers of the Aukštaitija capital club reached Kostanay on Monday after a long journey, and on Tuesday they held a training session in the covered arena of the “Tobol” club. On Wednesday, they stepped onto the natural grass of the city’s main stadium, but before the training, strategist Toni Korkeakunnas and defender Seydina Keita, who scored in the last match, shared their thoughts with Kazakh journalists.
The Senegalese player has played several times against footballers who previously played in the Kazakhstan championship. Noticing this, local journalists were told by S. Keita that he mostly talked about it with the 2023 Top League champion, former “Panevėžys” player Chafik Tigroudja.
“It’s a pleasure to be here. Speaking about the first matches, I think the rather chaotic play during them was caused by nervousness or specific game situations. I have talked several times with “Panevėžys” players about the Kazakhstan league and I am convinced that it is really a strong championship,” the defender told fk-panevezys.lt.
Meanwhile, head coach T. Korkeakunnas had visited Kazakhstan with the Finnish national team when he worked on the coaching staff of that team. The football specialist, with the addition of more experienced players, hopes to end the series of unsuccessful away matches that plague the team in the local championship.
“Panevėžys” also recently became the Lithuanian champion, and I have been working here for four months. The “Tobol” team has a much bigger budget and because of that there are differences. We did not travel here for 25 hours just to participate.
However, this is not an away match like in Lithuania just because of the very long journey. It is very good that the club took care of our earlier arrival. We got to know the match venue better, could rest and prepare. The start of the matches used to kill us, so we have to be awake – the home team will want to press us. I think that after the first matches ended in a draw, the hosts will feel more pressure.
We lacked leadership in the defense line, so the arriving duo – Seydina Keita and Parfait Bizoza – added that. It is very hard to win matches when you concede two goals, we became more resilient. Apart from the number of players, we wanted quality, so with the addition of Nauris Petkevičius and Valdas Paulauskas, this quartet added more experience. I am happy about their arrival,” shared T. Korkeakunnas.
The return match between “Tobol” and “Panevėžys” will take place on July 30, Thursday. The clash at Kostanay city’s central stadium will start at 5 p.m. Lithuanian time.
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