After the publication of the National Team's list, with the names collected for the two challenges against the Czech Republic and Ukraine valid for the Nations League, coach Sylvinho appeared today at the official press conference.
He talked about the selection of players, the team's objectives for these two games, while he showed how the situation is with the players of the offensive line. Coach Sylvinho praised the players coming from the U-21 team, as he returned once again to the match with the Czech Republic.
Asked by journalists if he is motivated by the full stadium for the match with the Czech Republic, the Brazilian technician said that this is something wonderful.
Initially, the Brazilian spoke about the list of invited players:
"We took 28 players, but it is easily explained. We have 5 players with yellow cards, two home games, no transfers, no plane, we have a good center here. We have everything here. We decided to get the maximum possible. Beyond those in yellow, we have 3 players who are in a "grey" situation. We are constantly in discussion. We talked to the doctors, the clubs and Stesina. We have to look at the situation of Kumbulla, Manaj and Bare. We still need to understand their situation better. We decided to call them and see how they are, whether they are able to play or not. Obviously we can all come out on top, but in this group anything can happen. There are four national teams that have played in Europe, they have quality, there are players who play in the Bundesliga, Premier League, they are strong. Georgia beat us here, we went there and won. We have the advantage that we play both games at home, it is a small but good advantage", he emphasized.
He adds that he is also happy with the number of attackers available.
"A headache for a coach is always good. Every coach wants to have space and opportunities for different players. This is an important moment for the National Team, for the country. Having a group like that and making it to the end alive is important. Ukraine has good players, Georgia has done a good European and the Czech Republic is a strong team, it is the first place in the group. At this moment, Manaj has not played for two weeks. He scored and was injured, he has not played for 14 days. Bare got a knock on his knee and has not played for 13 days. The more strong players we have, it gives us the impetus to go forward. Muçi is in a good moment, he has scored in three consecutive games, I am happy for him and for others, Bajrami is doing very well at Rangers. I visited Muchi a month ago, no one knows, it was not a good moment for him. This is the job, let's go out and see them, meet them, drink coffee, listen to them, hug them. These are difficult times. A transfer like Muci's is difficult because many things change, language, customs. For me, the headache is very good, the more fit players we have, the better," he added.
Was Cristian Shpendi an option? - Here, in fact, something beautiful is happening with the National Team because we are getting good players from the U-21, such as Mario Mitaj, Feta Fetai, Simon Simoni, as well as Pajaziti, who unfortunately has to be out of the field for 5 weeks. I don't think it's right to take players just because we have to call them up. Indrit Tuci played with Sparta, Manaj is in doubt, but we shouldn't take Shpendi just to activate him. He is a very good player, strong in the area. They are two brothers, they have different qualities and maybe we will get both of them when it can happen. I also recall another player, Medon Berisha, who has been out of the field for 50 days after being re-injured, but I hope he will return soon because he is an important player.
The players? - I don't know what to say at the moment, I know what to say to my players. We have a difficult group, we have 5 days of preparation. We have to understand what we have to do on the field. What I want to ensure is that we will always play with heart and soul. We have never lacked spirit and heart on the field.
Uzuni and Muçi come in a very good form? - We must understand the situation of Manaj. Let's see if he will manage to be ready for the matches. I have heard and talked to him, let's see how he comes and if he manages to get ready. We have Dak disqualified, Tuci played a very good match. But we have to work without 2-3 players who are points of reference. We have to try Muci and Uzuni. Uzuni is a second striker, but Muçi is an offensive player who plays on the left wing, but in the end he also played on the right at Besiktas. With us, the qualities and characteristics of the players are a little different. We have to understand if we can use them in the match according to the needs we have, there are 2 or even a third who can make the striker when we don't have a number 9.
Feta slices? – We have received many players from the U-21 National Team. Fetai, Mitaj, Bajrami, Simoni, Asllani who is very young, Pajaziti, Medon Berisha, Fetai, Shpendi, Çuni, are very good players. They can spoil us a lot for the future, obviously. I am very happy with the players who came from the U-21 National Team, they did very well. We can think that these players can become starters tomorrow, it's a process. I am very happy about the player we got. They are players who respond very well to us in the first team. It is a young team that is doing well. We have tried to create a balance between new and experienced players. We have a young national team.
Opponents? – We must take into account the opponents who suffer a little. Georgia is a tactically strong team, as are the Czech Republic and Ukraine. We have made a very important journey in the last two years. I remind you that we are more or less the same as them, but we as a team do not concede many goals. They are not opponents who scored 15 goals in the first 2 minutes. It is important to stay in the race and that motivates us. We have had hard work and it is not easy to get 6 points so far. I have to thank the players and the staff, we have to improve, we have two opponents and difficult games.
The hammer? – Has it been easy for the Czech Republic towards us? No! Was it easy for us to play against them? No! What I want to say is that maybe we have realized that playing the Czech Republic is difficult. They have strong players. Now people know who Bajram is. A year ago, who knew who Mario Mitaj was? Asllani is now known. Ramadan, strong. They already know us, they have started to study Albania. We have improved a lot. Playing in Prague against the Czech Republic is difficult. For us, it is a pride that we are alive from these matches and have faced the Czech Republic, which on the other hand says that Albania is a tough team, it has players like Bajrami, etc. They have made a change of coach, it is a physically strong team. Chory is a strong player with the ball at his feet, very strong, difficult to play against. Then, Sulc scored against Ukraine, central midfielder, three-quarter player, also plays as a winger. Provod on one side, Cerny on the other, both tall, strong wingers, hard to tackle. We have to play a good game if we want to win. We are proud that we are almost equal with the Czech Republic, that already someone there says that the match with Albania is difficult. In the European Championship, they congratulated us for our work, the players, the Federation. Nice team, organized, they asked where we found these players. We lost to Spain, but in that group we were in the game until the last moment to move on. It's a journey, we can't say we go to Wembley tomorrow and beat England 4-0. We have to move forward. As for the home game, I don't think it was luck, we played a good game. The pitch is what decides. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't. It is difficult, but we have made an important journey and we still need to improve.
Stadium "sold out", pressure or motivation? - For us it is very nice to play in front of 22 thousand fans. It's extra motivation. He enters the field, plays football. It's fun, it's beautiful and should be used, the atmosphere is very nice. There is a nice little advantage that we should take advantage of. Entering the field with a full stadium is a great emotion for us. We will work for 5 days and enter the field to play beautiful matches. If we really want to get closer to our goal, we need to develop a match close to 100%.
Does Silvinjo have a plan B and Asllan's form in the national team? – We overturned the match against Ukraine. Ukraine is strong, it is difficult. If you make a mistake, how many matches can be overturned? How many matches have been overturned in the European or World Cup? I'm not talking about the Albanian National Team, but in general, when you concede, the chance to overturn the game decreases. Football is like that, it's hard.
For Aslan, I do not agree. He plays with us for 90 minutes, he scores, he already has 2 goals. He is a young, technical player and is developing a lot both physically and tactically. In our national team, Asllani is doing very well. I don't know if he gives 70 or 80%, but he plays 90 minutes for us, he is the starter of the team. He has made a complete journey in the Euro 2024 qualifiers and a very good European in my opinion and he is playing well. In our opinion, it is working very well. How much can it grow? Probably a lot, because a player grows up, but in our opinion he is doing very well.
