"At best, I've only reached 70 percent of my potential"
The Russian national football team is preparing for two friendly matches. On October 10, she will play in Volgograd with Iran, and four days later in Moscow with Bolivia. Among those called up to these games is Rostov midfielder Konstantin Kuchaev, who already played for the national team in 2020 in a friendly match against Moldova. In the late 2010s, he made his debut in the RPL and European cups for CSKA Moscow, but in 2023 he lost his place in the squad and left the army club. After spending six months at Pari Nizhny Novgorod, the 28-year-old moved to Rostov in the summer of 2024, where he became team captain this season.
In an interview with Izvestia, Kuchaev shared his expectations for the upcoming matches of the national team, spoke about the atmosphere in the national team, the qualities of its head coach Valery Karpin, who worked at Rostov a year ago, appreciated the young CSKA students Matvey Kislyak and Kirill Glebov, and also explained how he became the captain of the Don club. This influenced the birth of his daughter, why he began to learn English, and how he skated on ice with his wife, the bronze medalist of the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships, Elena Radionova.
— What are your expectations from the next two matches of the national team?
— I'm looking forward to interesting games with good opponents. I can't say that I've been following these national teams very closely. But we have certain ideas about Iran, because we have an Iranian player in Rostov, Mohammad Mohebi, with whom we communicate a lot, and he told us something about his country's national team. In addition, we have already done one analysis of this team within the Russian national team.
— And what did you understand about her?
— A physically powerful, well-running, qualified team.
— How is your visit to the national team different from the previous ones?
— Because I'm already an older player than before. I had my last call-up to the national team three or four years ago. Since then, I've generally become more mature on my own. Compared to those days, there are a lot of young guys in the national team compared to me. Plus, there are a lot of guys I started with back in the youth national team, Krug (Danil Krugovoy. — Izvestia), Divey (Igor Diveyev. — Izvestia), Vanya Oblyakov, Nail Umyarov, Danya Glebov. It's just offhand that I remembered those I know in the current national team.
— You managed to make your debut for the Russian national team in 2020 in a friendly match against Moldova, at a time when our team participated in official international competitions. Is there a big difference emotionally when there is a chance to get to a major tournament at the level of the European Championship, and now, when there won't be such a chance in the next couple of years?
— In any case, there is always more attention and more pressure on you in the national team. Playing for her feels more important, regardless of whether we are playing in friendly matches of the current format or in friendly matches that alternate with official ones. Any football player who gets into the national team treats this with maximum responsibility. It doesn't matter whether the game is a friendly or an official one. You play for your country, and the emotions are always special.
— How does Valery Karpin, as the head coach of the Russian national team, differ from himself as the head coach of Rostov?
— He is a good tactician with an interesting vision of football. As a demanding person. He can laugh at the right moment, and shout and insert pistons at the right moment. All those qualities that helped him achieve results in Rostov remained with him in the national team.
— Do you miss European competitions after playing in the Champions League and the Europa League for CSKA? Or have you already gotten used to their absence in three years?
— Thank God, we have a lot of games in the championship and the Cup of Russia. Yes, we can play against the same team many times a season, as we did with Lokomotiv last season — Rostov met with him five or six times a season. But in general, the current Cup format helps to avoid long pauses, so there is time to play. Of course, I want to play with other clubs. But the current opportunities are not bad either.
— Are you following European football now? How difficult will it be for our clubs in European competitions when they return there?
— I follow all the strong European championships, but it is difficult to compare their teams with ours. You can't look at someone else's picture and equate it with your own. It will be possible to understand everything only when our teams meet with the European ones. Different leagues have different specifics of football. The English Premier League, for example, is considered the coolest and strongest. But last season, the Champions League was won not by an English club, but by PSG from France, where there is one club-mastodon and all the others. So the level of the championship does not always determine the chances in European competitions. I'm not saying that we'll go back there and start beating everyone right away. All I'm saying is that it's hard to compare yourself to others without playing with them. It is clear that you need to work, and that it will be difficult at first. But if you try very hard, then anything is possible.
— You said that you have become more mature. When did this happen?
— Probably when he became a father. Then came such a mental maturation.
— When did you become a father?
— Almost a year and a half ago, my daughter is one year and four months old.
— Is the fact that you were entrusted with the captain's armband at Rostov this season a consequence of maturity?
— Most likely, it also had an impact. I have some responsibility, we have a young team, and we need to help it. I try to give some advice to the young guys. And all this is a consequence of the fact that the birth of a child has added more maturity. Besides, the fact that I accepted the captaincy myself is also a consequence of the fact that I have matured mentally and already consider myself a more experienced footballer. And not young and promising, like a few years ago.
— How did the process of appointing you captain of Rostov go?
— This is a mutual decision of the management and the head coach. At the same time, they were also interested in my opinion on this matter. Jonathan (Alba, Rostov's head coach. — Izvestia) came up and asked if I was ready for this. I replied that I felt more experienced and wanted to at least try myself in this role. That's why I took it upon myself, I try to help the young guys, give them some mental things, physical exercises and tactical things on the field. What I already know better through experience.
— Do you have to shout at your teammates on the field or in the locker room?
— I've done it a couple of times. In a couple of games.
"When?"
— For example, during the break of the match with Loko, when we were burning 0:2. In the end, we drew 3-3.
— Is the restructuring at Rostov this year, when a number of key players left — in winter Danil Glebov, in summer Nikolay Komlichenko and Maxim Osipenko — similar to what happened at CSKA in 2018? Then such long-term leaders as Sergey Ignashevich, Vasily and Alexey Berezutsky ended their careers, Pontus Wernbloom and Bibras Natho left. As a result, there are many young people at the base, including you.
— I think it's a little different. Then, after all, the CSKA team became much younger. And now in Rostov, experienced football players have also come to replace the guys who left. Instead of Max, Dima Chistyakov, instead of Komli, Sul (Timur Suleymanov. — Izvestia). People who have also played a lot in the RPL with good teams. Therefore, I would not say that these changes were very painful. It's just that in the first rounds of the current championship, we were rebuilding, and the new players were getting used to the requirements of the head coach. Connections were being made, and everyone was beginning to understand each other. Therefore, we lost at the start of the season according to the results.
— How has Rostov changed since February, when Alba replaced Karpin as head coach?
— It is clear that we are playing a different kind of football now — more defensive, with three central defenders. But there are no global changes. We have decided not to fundamentally change anything yet. All the more local changes came by themselves, due to circumstances.
— Rostov started the championship unsuccessfully, but now has a six-match unbeaten streak. Can we say that you are capable of more than the current tenth place?
— Even though we haven't lost six matches in a row, it's still too early to talk about something. It's been too short a time to call ourselves a team that can solve big problems and claim, say, the top three. We will proceed in stages. It's been a good stretch right now, but there's still a lot to do to consolidate our defensive game and work on our offense.
— Taking into account your words about greater maturity after the birth of your daughter and success at Rostov, are you thinking about trying to return to CSKA or another club of a similar level in the near future?
— I don't keep it in my head at all yet. I'm just focused on growing as a person and a football player. I certainly don't know what my fate will be like next. That's why I don't sit and think about whether I should play there or there. If there is interest and Rostov gives the go-ahead, then we'll talk. In the meantime, you don't have to dream about what doesn't exist. I would say that at best I have only reached 70 percent of my potential, if not half at all. So we need to keep working and becoming an even stronger footballer.
— If the maturity you are talking about had come earlier, would there have been more chances to gain a foothold in CSKA?
— I think it's 100%. Of course, there were a lot of things there, both injuries and my misunderstanding of how to behave. As they like to say now, I got into a tilt (in youth slang — "lose my temper, give free rein to emotions." — Izvestia).
— When did you realize that you would have to leave CSKA?
— I haven't played at all in the last year. And I realized that I had to look for other options. I realized that my time as a football player wasn't that long. Therefore, you need to get game practice, otherwise you can get to the point where you won't be able to play football at all with such a break. I should have found a solution for myself sooner. And already about a year before the lease at Pari Nizhny Novgorod, I realized that I would leave. But all the same, there was always the thought: "Now is the training camp, I'll get in shape and prove that I can play in the base." But every time in these situations, I didn't feel that CSKA needed me. More precisely, he understood that he was not needed at all. Maybe I stopped working out at full speed somewhere. I don't know. At that time it seemed to me that I was training well, but from the outside it might look like I was training poorly. So I could have been self-deceived. As a result, I realized in advance that I needed to change something in order to restart my head and start my life from scratch.
— In your last year at CSKA, Kirill Glebov already started to replace him periodically, with Matvey Kislyak as the base. Did you expect them to become club leaders in just a couple of years and be called up to the national team?
— Probably not. I'm lying if I say that I understood everything about their prospects in advance. At the same time, it was clear that of all the young guys who were connected to the base at that time, they were the most talented.
— Did Matvey Lukin stand out from the general background then?
— Luca is still a bit older and joined the main team earlier. And they were already the most talented of the generation of Kislyak and Glebov, although many of their peers were involved in training.
— You said that you communicate with Moheby at Rostov. Does he know Russian?
— We communicate in English.
— When did you start teaching him?
— Back in CSKA. When I wasn't playing much, I realized that I needed to load my head with something (laughs). That's why I started learning English. First online, then with a tutor. But I haven't studied it yet — soon I had to move first to Paris NN, then to Rostov. But there is a desire to finish his education so that he can communicate with people who do not know Russian.
— Your wife, Elena Radionova, is a medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships. Did she ever encourage you to skate, to make elements like professional figure skaters?
— I can't say that I encouraged it, but we skated together. But in my performance it was a simple ride. In principle, even before I met Lena, I was able to do this. Therefore, it is not difficult to go out on the ice and skate. But doing jumps or other elements that she performed as a professional figure skater is definitely not for me. I'll just fall apart if I do something like that (laughs).
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