Marek Zub dla "Faktu": na Białorusi pracowało mi się trudniej niż w Chinachhttps://sport.fakt.pl/pilka-nozna/marek-zub-dla-faktu-na-bialorusi-pracowalo-mi-sie-trudniej-niz-w-chinach/7ygmvh5Legia Warsaw will play Dynamo Minsk today in a Europa Conference League match. Belarusian clubs, unlike Russian ones, have not been excluded from European competitions. Dynamo plays its "home" matches in Azerbaijan without fans. Away matches are not covered by any sanctions, however. Belarusian football, although geographically close, is foreign to us. Legia representatives could not even go to watch their opponents in a league match for political reasons.
— Even before the conflict in the East, the hardest thing for me to work in was Belarus. The country seems to be the closest to us in terms of culture and language. Paradoxically, it was easier for me even in China — the current coach of the first-league Stal Rzeszów admits to "Fakt". — The problem is the temperament of the people, very closed in on themselves, isolated from the world. Contact with footballers is very difficult. I would compare it to working through glass. You can see, hear and feel everything, but you can't touch it. I couldn't change it, it seemed impossible — he adds.
Polish coach recalls work in Belarus: "Players were like guerrillas"Zub worked in Soligorsk for nine months. Out of 21 matches, he won 11, drew three and lost seven. However, he could only dream of creating a well-functioning team in Belarus.
— The coach is treated there as an official who has to be at the club, but no one enters into deeper relationships with him. He comes to work, to training and goes home. Issues related to building "team spirit" did not exist. Despite the fact that players from other countries also appeared, which was something special in Belarus at that time. However, it was difficult for players coming from the West or the Balkans to accept themselves in the new situation, not to mention integrating with the environment — he emphasizes.
— I asked Shakhtyor why they chose me. The idea was to try to find a new impulse for the team. And since I worked in Lithuania and Latvia at that time, I had a good understanding, because it was the same region. The club expected that the arrival of a coach from Western Europe might not work out. They tried to find a middle ground, that's why I ended up there. I consciously took on this challenge. Although I remember being told that I would have a basic problem, because Belarusian players have a partisan temperament. They watch from a distance, they don't make contact, they appear from time to time, they open up a little when it's good for them, and then they withdraw again and it is difficult to get hold of them — he adds.