"I'm looking forward to the first match under Yevseyev's leadership."

In early September, the players of the Russian youth national team (U-21) played two friendly matches in Khimki with the youth team from Saudi Arabia (U-23). At first they lost 1:2, but then they won 3:1. Defender Ilya Kirsh took part in one of the games. Zenit St. Petersburg owns the rights to him, but last two seasons he played on loan for Rostov and Dynamo Makhachkala. He made his RPL debut for the Dagestan club in the last Russian championship.

And this summer, the football player, who turns 21 on September 21, went on loan to Novorossiysk Chernomorets from the first league. In an interview with Izvestia, Kirsch summed up the results of two matches of the youth national team, evaluated the opponent, and also commented on the unsuccessful results of Chernomorets at the start of the season, which led to a change of head coach (after nine rounds, the team is in 16th place next to the relegation zone), and told why he agreed to play in the first league..

— How would you rate the last two matches of the youth national team?

— In general, we have achieved a positive result in the sum of two matches. There were a lot of things that didn't work out in the first game. First of all, we didn't realize our moments. Our game was crumpled, and we were a little afraid, and the opponent attacked well. We had a lot of confusion.

In the second game, we relaxed a little bit, we started showing our football, exactly the one that the coaching staff sets for us. They began to attack more, and there were fewer restrained actions. Hence the positive result.

— After the Russian youth national team traveled to South America several times over the past two years for a series of games with teams from Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia, was it difficult to find motivation to play against Saudi Arabia at the old Rodina stadium in Khimki?

- no. Now, in general, there is such a global trend that there are no frankly weak rivals anywhere. You can see that in the Middle East, the teams are very strong, they look good on the field. Therefore, it is not necessary to say that the Saudis have some kind of wrong level. They have a very decent team. With its own cons and pros, just like ours. You can't call them a passing team.

— How hard is it for you now to combine games for the youth national team and the first league club, given that in this championship, unlike the RPL, there is no pause for national team games? And Chernomorets had to play official matches without you. Will it be difficult to win back a place at the base from those who played in your place during this break?

— Let's see how it goes. Of course, when there is no pause in the championship and you are called up to the youth team, this is an ambiguous moment. Because you want to play for the national team, but the club remains without you. And some clubs are left without two or three players. But never mind, after returning to the club, I will fight for a place in the squad. Healthy competition is always a good thing.

— How did you react to the appointment of Vadim Evseev as the head coach of Chernomorets?

— I'm looking forward to playing my first match under his leadership. We all know what a successful career he had as a player, that he had already achieved good results as a coach in several of his previous teams. Let's see how Chernomorets will turn out with him.

— Why did Chernomorets have a bad start to the season in the first league, which led to a change of head coach?

— I think the change of the squad in the offseason had an impact. We have changed 90% of the players. In the first two rounds, it may not be felt so much, because the teams are looking at each other, running more than they think. And starting from the third or fourth rounds, mutual understanding on the field between the players plays a bigger role. Given the changes, we had difficulties with this. Although we could have scored more points anyway, we were unlucky in some places, and we made mistakes that led to poor match results. And all this combined has led to such failures.

— Does Chernomorets have problems with motivation after it was not allowed to play in the RPL transition matches at the end of last season due to lack of necessary infrastructure, although it got there on a sporting basis?

— I don't think we can have any kind of lack of motivation, because our team has changed. And there are no more players left who reached the play-off matches last season, but were not allowed to them. There are new guys and new motivation at Chernomorets right now. There are definitely no problems with the mood.

— Is there any motivation to prove that you deserve to be in the RPL, given that in previous seasons you were given little opportunity to play at the Premier League level in Rostov and Makhachkala Dynamo?

— Yes, I am sure that it will be so. I went to Chernomorets for game practice. And I get it. This was the main purpose of renting in Novorossiysk.

— Is that why you didn't stick to the RPL, realizing that you might end up on the bench, like in Rostov and Makhachkala?

— Yes, I've weighed the pros and cons. And I decided that the first league was better, but more game practice.