"Dynamo and I will still have a chance for RPL gold"

Dynamo Mexican legionnaire Luis Chavez has been playing for the Moscow club for the third year, but he has not played a single match this season, as he suffered a serious injury at the CONCACAF Cup (the continental championship of the national teams of North and Central America) in the summer, from which he is still recovering. Because of this, he never worked with the previous Dynamo head coach Valery Karpin, who led the blue and white from June to November 2025, but now he is starting to prepare for the second part of the season under the guidance of new mentor Rolan Gusev at the training camp in the UAE.

In an interview with Izvestia, the 30-year-old football player appreciated the new coaching staff, shared his opinion on the reasons for Dynamo's failures under Karpin, speculated about the chances of getting into the Mexican national team for the upcoming summer World Cup, which his country will hold jointly with the United States and Canada, and also named his favorite places in Moscow and his closest friends. one of the Russian Dynamo players.

"Gusev puts vertical attacking football on the team"

— To what extent have you already overcome the effects of your summer cruciate ligament injury?

— The final stage of recovery is underway. I can't say that I've fully recovered yet. There are some movement restrictions, but overall I feel much better — I do more exercises in the gym and on the field. I think I'll be training in the general group in the near future.

— Where was the operation performed?

"In Mexico." He also spent the first six weeks after the operation there, when he began to recover. Then he flew to Moscow and carried out the entire recovery process there. Then he continued his treatment and recovery in Mexico during his winter vacation.

— During the last part of the training camp in Dubai, did you understand what kind of football Dynamo will play under Rolan Gusev?

— Now I will also have to evaluate based on observations from the outside, since I have not yet trained in the general group under the new head coach. But when I train individually, I look at the team's training sessions and I see that Gusev wants to put Dynamo attacking, vertical football. This was also evident in the match at the BetBoom Dynamo Global Challenge tournament against Shanghai Shenhua. Yes, this is just the beginning of the preparation and the first matches at the training camp, so the game is not completely complete, but at this tournament (organized by Dynamo and the title partner of the BetBoom club. — Ed.) it is already noticeable what I am talking about. We will often play offensively.

— Something similar to the Dynamo game under Marcel Lichke?

— From what I've seen, yes. Of course, Dynamo has a slightly different squad now than it did under Marcel. Quite a lot of new players came after him, but attacking players with good speed have remained since those days — for example, Tyukavin and Gladyshev. They played very well in Person. And I think they will play about the same way under Roland, especially since he started working at Dynamo headquarters under Marcel.

— How do you remember him as the acting head coach last May after Lichka's dismissal and before that as Marcel's assistant?

— At the end of last season, he worked only four matches at the head of the team and was not yet a permanent head coach. And it was difficult to change anything there. Now he has more time to set up the game and have full powers as head coach. It's going to be a little different, which is already evident from the training sessions - the team is working very hard with the ball, trying to play fast football in a small space. We understand more and more what he wants from us.

— Gusev has never played in Europe, but after his football career ended, he lived in Spain for a long time. Has he learned the language well enough to talk to you?

— I think he understands a little what we are saying. But that's not the main thing. The main thing is that he understands our mentality, feels what and when to tell the team. He knows how we should train and how we should play.

— How do you like the new physical training coach Augustin Kiliaborda?

— For now, I study individually, so I work more with his assistant, rehabilitation therapist Juan Gomez. But from the outside, I see that the atmosphere during the hard training sessions has become very positive. Even when the players get tired, Augustine successfully motivates them to continue working. That's the most important thing right now. The atmosphere has become different with the new coaching staff.

— Rolan Gusev will have his first experience as a head coach, his assistant Yuri Zhirkov is just starting his coaching career. Do you feel they are ready to solve big problems with Dynamo?

— I think they are all ready — Gusev and Zhirkov, and Roman Sharonov, who has already worked as a head coach at more than one club and has good experience. They were waiting for the opportunity to show their level. And now she has appeared. It doesn't matter that some of them don't have much coaching experience, it's important that they were three great players. And it can be very useful for us, because they understand football players and their psychology.

— Have you seen these great players on the pitch? All three of them were already in their prime at a time when you could consciously watch football — Gusev and Zhirkov, for example, took the UEFA Cup with CSKA when you were 9 years old, Sharonov defeated Barcelona in the Champions League with Rubin when you were already 13.

— I read more about their achievements on the Internet. I saw Zhirkov's game directly when he played for Chelsea, and I remember him from that period. I have not seen Gusev and Sharonov as players, but, I repeat, I have read a lot about them and I know how important they are in the history of Russian football.

— Sharonov is considered one of the most tactically obsessed Russian coaches. Did you feel this from the theoretical classes conducted by the current Dynamo headquarters?

— Yes, this is especially noticeable when work is underway on defense. Sharonov was a central defender after all. From what I've noticed in training, it's very important for him to explain in detail what the position of the players we should have, what the distance between them is. This is very useful, both for the players who have been in the team for a long time, and for the young ones. For Roman, the main thing is that we not only sit on the defensive, but he wants us to start defending when we attack.

— Have you seen anything like this before?

— In the Mexican national team, Javier Aguirre has Rafa Marquez and Toni Amor on his staff — they work very hard on tactical exercises, on how the team should move, on coordination. Javier himself loves it, but now his assistants are doing it more. And Sharonov is similar to them in his love of these details.

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"The players didn't feel comfortable under Karpin"

— When you watched Dynamo's matches in the first part of the season, were you able to formulate for yourself the reasons for Dynamo's current position in tenth place in the Russian championship?

— I think the biggest problem was the atmosphere. She wasn't the best for the job. It affected our game and our training process. In many moments, the players did not feel comfortable. Any mistake occurred as a result of the prevailing atmosphere within the team, which affected the guys the most. Although there were matches where we were just unlucky.

— Since you did not play or train with Valery Karpin, can you explain how you got such a feeling of the atmosphere within the team?

— I felt this atmosphere all the time. I haven't been with the team all the time during matches and training, so I can't tell you anything in detail about this topic. But when I came to the Dynamo base, I saw my teammates. They were sad — I was very worried, and it was obvious that they were not enjoying the process. This kind of atmosphere influenced me too. And I've seen from the stands during matches that this mood carries over to the games.

— Were these sentiments among both Russian and Latin American football players?

— There is no difference between Russian and foreign players here. Everything that happened affected all the Dynamo players. They didn't play their best football on the pitch. The atmosphere in the team was so bad that the players could not demonstrate their best qualities. There were those who played a little better, and those who played a little worse. But the overall level of play of the team and most of the players individually left much to be desired. Most of them did not understand the coach's requirements. Making demands or the way the coach talked to the team didn't help the players show their best qualities at all. This created tension that negatively affected the team, which was Dynamo's biggest problem in the first part of the season.

— Did you personally talk to Karpin while he was the head coach? In personal communication, did you feel the manner of talking to the players that you mentioned above?

"I've talked to him once or twice. And the conversation was not about football, but only about personal life and various everyday issues. I was on his team for three or four months after the operation. And it seemed that before my recovery, he didn't want to talk to me about football. Therefore, I judge the atmosphere in the team by what I saw at the base, when I met with the players and watched them from the sidelines during training and during matches.

"I want to play in the World Cup again"

— You suffered a cross injury last summer when you played in the CONCACAF Cup for the Mexican national team. From my communication with Aguirre and his staff, I understand how ready they are to invite you to the home World Cup next summer if you manage to recover and get in shape. Did they tell you that they didn't forget about you even after the injury?

— Yes, when the injury occurred, the entire staff communicated with me. Just like during recovery. They haven't talked to me lately, but I'm constantly in touch with the physiotherapist from their staff, who finds out my condition all the time and informs Aguirre, Marquez and Amor about it. Of course, I have a dream to play in the next World Cup, part of which will be held in my country. That's my goal. But first we need to start fully training with Dynamo and prepare for March 1, when there will be the first match in the RPL after the winter break.

— When you visit Mexico, do you see how the country is preparing for the 2026 World Cup? Will it be brighter than the previous 2022 World Cup in Qatar?

— I think so, yes. At least because there will be more teams than at all previous world cups. And the atmosphere in Mexico is different. People get sick in a completely different way than in Qatar - people in our country really live football. Therefore, everything will be very beautiful. And it will be a truly historic event.

— Why is it historical? Has Mexico already hosted two World Cups, and alone, and not with two other countries, as it is now?

— Because I hope that the Mexican national team will perform better. We've never gone past the quarterfinals. And we want to change this situation. We have been working very hard for this for the last three years, trying to change the mentality. I really want to be able to perform better than before.

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— Which places in Mexico should a person visit when traveling to your country for the first time?

— It depends on what you like to do in your free time. There are many very beautiful beaches in Mexico, such as Cancun, Tulum, and Palenque. I personally like to go there and enjoy the sea. Of the historical monuments, I advise you to see the Independence Monument in the center of Mexico City. Sokalo Square (in Russian, "Constitution Square". — Ed.) — the main square of Mexico City. Archaeological zone of Teotihuacan. I've named three main places that immediately came to mind. But in fact, we have a lot to visit — you can't list them all.

— In an interview with Sport-Express in 2023, you said that you liked the Red Square in Moscow. Have there been any other favorite places in the Russian capital since then?

— To be honest, I haven't visited many places since then. But there is one thing... Patriarch's ponds, or, as you also call them, "Patriki". I really like to walk there, go to restaurants, of which there are a lot in this area. I didn't manage to watch much else — I spend a lot of time on football. But my wife likes to watch different places. Not only in Moscow, but she even went to St. Petersburg on purpose a couple of times.

— In the same interview in 2023, you said that Vyacheslav Grulev taught you Russian obscenities. After his departure from Dynamo, which Russians do you have the closest relationship with?

— I talk more with Fomin, Tyukavin, Gladyshev. But I don't use swear words anymore. I'm learning Russian a little bit, but not to the point where I swear in it (smiles).

— Is Russian richer in swear words than the Spanish language spoken in Mexico?

"I don't think so.

— A year and a half ago, Dynamo almost won the championship with you. What prevented us from achieving at least a draw away from Krasnodar?

— Krasnodar is one of the most difficult teams we play against. It was a difficult match, and we were unlucky when we hit the post at the end. It's hard to add anything else. It was very disappointing. I always want to win titles. Especially when you know how much it meant to Dynamo, who hadn't won a championship in a long time. But I think we'll still have a chance. We have a good team with a good coaching staff. We need to change our mentality a bit and think only about how to win trophies. I'm sure we can do it.