"I won't single out anyone except Rodina in the first league."

In the current season of the first league (National Football League — FNL-1), Torpedo Moscow, with a large budget, is located at the bottom of the standings, near the relegation zone. In winter, the club was reinforced by a group of players who had recently played in the RPL. Among them is midfielder Dmitry Tsypchenko, known for playing for Samara Krylia Sovetov in 2021-2025. Last summer, he left the club and joined the first league, where he played for SKA Khabarovsk until the winter break, and now for Torpedo.

In an interview with Izvestia, the 26-year-old football player assessed the level of the teams in the FNL-1, shared his impressions of the Far Eastern trips, explained why he did not move to Sochi after head coach Igor Osinkin, with whom he worked for many years at Chertanovo and Krylia, and also assessed the prospects of Torpedo.

— In the last match of the first league, your team defeated a difficult opponent at home — Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik (3:0). How did it happen?

— Well, what does "difficult opponent" mean? If you look at the selection of Torpedo players, we still have to cope with all the teams. I played the first part of the season for SKA Khabarovsk. By that time, he had not been in the first league for a long time (four years. — Ed.), but returned. And for the part of this season that I've already played, I can't single out any of the teams. With the possible exception of "Homeland".

— Can't you even single out the Torch, which is leading by a significant margin?

- no. I told you, I mean the game. I can't single out anyone except Rodina.

— Do you proceed from what you saw from the inside, from those matches that were played for Khabarovsk and Torpedo?

— Yes, for personal matches. Besides them, believe me, I don't watch the first league (smiles). But I can't single out anyone except Rodina for the personal matches I've played in.

— This is the first time in a long time that you are playing in the first league. After leaving Krylia Sovetov last year, were there any options for joining the RPL?

— There were several options. But a number of circumstances in my career did not allow me to stay in the RPL.

— Can you decipher what the circumstances are?

- no.

— Was there an option to end up in Sochi according to the worked-out scheme?

— What does it mean according to a proven scheme (laughs)?

— Well, since the end of last summer, your numerous friends from playing for Chertanovo and Krylia Sovetov have gathered there — head coach Igor Osinkin and many players.

— Yes, but Osinkin probably had more faith in other players than in me. That's why, apparently, our paths have parted. And we need to work separately. It is for us.

— Have the paths parted completely?

— I do not know. Life is such a thing that maybe someday we'll work together again. But maybe we should have broken up a little earlier.

"Changing coaches is not news for our football"

Torpedo football player Alexey Kashtanov — about the personnel leapfrog at the head of the team, the struggle for survival in the first league, the specifics of the tournament and the reasons for Baltika's success in the RPL

— Have you also parted ways with the team that constantly cooperates with Osinkin in the person of agent Pavel Andreev and former Chertanovo director Nikolai Larin?

— These are completely different stories. I think you don't quite understand what's going on between them, between all the people you mentioned. Each of them has his own opinion about each football player. It is impossible to generalize them directly for each case.

— Torpedo has significantly strengthened over the winter by signing you and a number of other players with recent experience in the RPL. Can we expect a significant rise from the bottom of the first league table?

— Well, you understand that Moscow was not built right away. And here we have 13 players at once over the winter. It's hard to expect that after that the team will go through everything at once. I remember how our team gathered in Krylia Sovetov in the first league in 2020. We had a great season back then — we confidently took first place, scored a lot of goals. But it wasn't an easy start, we lost a lot of matches. And then everyone tensed up.

— This is despite the fact that the backbone of the team was well-played, as many players came with Osinkin from Chertanovo.

— Yes, the line-up was well played. And basically very strong by the standards of the first league. But the real game appeared only after the winter training camp. Although we gathered back in the summer. It is clear that that summer, in fact, there was no preseason — because of covid, the last season ended late, and the new one began two weeks later. But still, that story speaks volumes.

— How did you like the recent six months at Khabarovsk?

— It's very hard. I remember once reading a statement by Kevin Kuranyi, who talked about his years at Dynamo and recalled the difficult long-distance trips in Russia. But people who go there once a season don't even need to say anything about it, because the guys who play for Khabarovsk get a lot more tired. There are a lot of flights and jetlags associated with seven-hour time differences. Therefore, I have a very positive assessment of the period in the Far East. That's probably how it should have happened— such a downward leap. And going to the first league from the RPL is a leap down. But here it was necessary to take one step back, then to take two steps forward. Especially after playing in such difficult conditions as long-distance flights across the country from Khabarovsk and back.

— Did you fly by charters or scheduled planes?

— Scheduled flights.

— In the context of next season, when the current Torpedo squad plays, will the team be able to qualify for the RPL?

— I would stay in this season for now. I repeat: we had a FNL team in Krylia that won all the matches after the winter break, except for one, in which it drew, and accidentally lost points. So why shouldn't Torpedo do it again? Is there a selection of players? There is. So, there are chances.

— How would you assess the morale of those Torpedo players who were in the team before you and caught last summer when the team entered the RPL, but was suspended by the RFU decision and sent back to the first league due to suspicions of bribing referees? Has it affected your teammates?

— I don't know. I don't see it in the guys. It seems like a good atmosphere, normal. There is no pressure.

— Recently, law enforcement agencies have detained a number of other referees for episodes related to Torpedo matches last season. No one knows if this will lead to additional sanctions against the club, but did that stop you when you considered Avtozavodets' offer in the winter?

— Considering that I had an offer from more than one Torpedo last winter, it means that it didn't stop me, since I'm on the team.