Soha
09-14-2008, 02:12 PM
I live in small Kazakhstani village. Everybody from here works in mine. Each day at 5am comes bus which takes people to work. I didn't wanted to live like this. At my 12th birthday i said to myself that i will be someone in this world. I don't want everything to look like this, i want to change something... leave something after myself. As all children i have dreams. At first wanted to be Soldier, later Policeman, and after other Firemen, Doctors and all other professions i wanted to be footballer... But dirty and old ball was all we had. But is there anything more needed? I love this sport from first days i remember. And i'm the best in my and all other villages against which i played.
1st April 2005
Ehhh... how far from now were those days? I grew up and my mind have changed. From 3 months i'm working in mine with my father. Today is my 17th birthday about which i forgotten... The same as grey day as yesterday and tomorrow i thought. But hey, happened something what i would never expect. When i came back, my mother said to me that whole family is waiting for me in next room. Awwww forget about what today is... So came there and saw my Grandpa, Grandma, Father, Mother, two sisters (really pretty blondes trust me) and my one brother. ,,You're our oldest child. We don't want to waste your life, son". Then i heard voice from behind. There was sitting maybe about 40yo man with strange accent. ,,You have gift in your legs boy. I saw you last week on the pitch. You must do something with this. Maybe one day Guy above will say that you'll be great footballer? It would be stupid if you wouln't try"...
5th April 2005
,,We are nearly close"- those words took me out from sleep. An old mercedes stopped after 5 minutes, maybe less. I was looking everywhere until i got spin feeling in my head. Old man laughed ,,Don't be afraid, this is Kutaisi. Georgia will make people from you". Georgia? How far from home am i? Will i see my family again? What if not?
7th April 2005
Mr. Masashvili- that's the name of old man who took me here, today took me to Torpedo club. I was impressed because of Club Facilities. Never saw something from anything i met here. Now i must say that i don't like Senior team's boss- he even didn't looked, din't interested in me! Just said ,,get that kid to youth team". And that's all... ok, let's start from here i said to myself
1st August 2005
Senior's boss want me to join first team today! Can't wait. But it doesn't mean i'm not nervous...
13th August 2005, first League fixture
Last 12 days i had worst time in my life... Couldn't even move after hard trainings. But i'm still hard-working because somewhere there, in my home village people counts on me...
31st December 2005, Summary
And came end of the year... My time in Kutaisi went to the end... i'm not good enough for them. It isn't surprise for me- i couldn't find my place here, in Kutaisi. I had serious problems with everything and some else... And of course luck of professionalism... Want to forget about everything what happened here... hm, sport side? Played only twice. Fisrt match against Lokomotiv Kutaisi in 3rd League week. Came in 64min. Played nice, hit the bar after strong heading in crowd in penalty box. Press wasn't happy with my performance and gave my rating 6, because of my age and debut. And second match? Against Dila Gori at the end of October. Nightmare... Came in 68mins and nothing given from me that match. Wanted but couldn't shortly. We scored one and lost one and after final whistle it was 1:2
1st January 2006
Got some offers from Georgian clubs, but i decided to leave this country because i hate it after everything what happened there. It was very hard to find something nice but at least mr. Masashvili managed to find place where i would be able to get breath and build up my confidence. Our choice is Minatori Tepelene from second Albanian league. Not bad place to rebuilt myself from start...
11th January 2006, Albanian debut (Pogradeci, Away)
Mid-season break ended and here came time for football. Difference beetween my level and others is quite big, i have chance to be someone here. Today fixture against Pogradeci, which is 3rd in league, just 1 point behind us. Everybody were sure that it will be hard match for both teams. Atmosphere on filled to last place stadium was hot. But at least the pitch situation wasn't. Fast 0:3 for us with my amazing assist in it. Soft lob behind defence line to coming up striker which did with goalkeeper the same what i just did with their defence. Match ended 0:4 and i was chosen as Man of the Match with rating 9! Nothing strange if you saw my play- great dribbling and passing, much higher levelled than others on the pitch... I started to like this country
14th January 2006
Warming up day after and day before match is all we had. Didn't have time for anything other than next match against KS Lushnja. They are second from back of table (11th) but we must concentrate to stay on leadership which we have after last match. Today supporters weren't interested that much as 3 days ago- stadium was nearly empty. ,,It doesn't matter, just do it for ouselves" said boss, after which he told us tactics for today. With me on attacking center midfield. Everything other is nothing... Everybody else are nothing- that;s what we wanted to show today! and we did it... 2:0 at half time, easily. Easily as my scissors kick goal. Not sure that Albania already saw goal like mine today's in their country. It didn't have precision, but had great power. Center of goal, just where keeper was, but what he could do? it just blasted his net. Second half 1:1 what give us 3:1 at final whistle. My days here are counted... ,,The world is yours" as Grandpa used to say
25th January 2006, Surprising phone call
I was sitting calmly after training session. What a beatiful time it was. But it turned to much more beatiful when i answered the phone. I was called up to Kazakhstan national team! 1st February in Pavlodar Kazakhstan will meet with Ukraine in last World Cup 2008 Qualifications match. What a surprise, really couldn't believe. It's too beautiful and surprising. After running and shouting around my rent house i ran to cafe from which i bought 7 tickets for family plus 1 for mr. Masashvili to make them possible to watch me in my debut...
28th January 2006, Match on the Top
Minatori Telepene vs Erzeni Shijak, the match on top of second Albanian league. All tickets sold nearly week ago. It couldn't be normal match. Fans wanted theater today. Theater? No, they wanted war! And they did it on stadium... What a shame... Our and Erzeni's captain had to beg supporters to stop that. Referee stopped match for nearly 10min, but at least restarted it. Thankfully, because we had just 2 points more than them. Game restarted from 54mins. And it was our day from this moment. Again my through pass gave us 1:0 lead. Ten minutes before ending whistle we managed to score second goal. That was enough. Luckily, because our attacker- Gjon Ryta missed empty box twice from 5 meters! We had nice laugh from him later, but what if it would be 0:0 or worse- 0:1? Don't want even think about it. Now is coming Kazakhstan-Ukraine match. Let's concentrate on this...
1st February 2006, National Team Debut
Before last match of this qualifications Kazakhstan was last in their group with only 2 points. And without any possibilities of getting on higher position. Good for me, there's no bigger pression than it's already is. And that's enough for me. I'm still 17 and my football experience isn't good- 5 matches in career, never played 90mins yet, twice in this came in second half and 3 times was subbed off in 70-80mins. And now i had to go on the same pitch as Shevchenko... Must show my skills, it will be big step for me.
We played nearly on the same level against them. Yeah... Until 34mins when Yakovenko scored first time from10 meters to empty box after our goalkeeper's save. The same happened in 43mins... Our energy was going lower and lower and they were dominating more and more. 67mins- Yakovenko completed his hat-trick. I was giving everything what i had, even more. But it went to nothing each time. Simply it was impossible for us to beat Ukraine that day. Manager decided that's enough for me in 85mins and he subbed me. I played not bad match, press said that i was best player in our side. But what it can mean if you're losing 0:3 at home?
Qualifications ended. I hope my International career didn't...
1st April 2005
Ehhh... how far from now were those days? I grew up and my mind have changed. From 3 months i'm working in mine with my father. Today is my 17th birthday about which i forgotten... The same as grey day as yesterday and tomorrow i thought. But hey, happened something what i would never expect. When i came back, my mother said to me that whole family is waiting for me in next room. Awwww forget about what today is... So came there and saw my Grandpa, Grandma, Father, Mother, two sisters (really pretty blondes trust me) and my one brother. ,,You're our oldest child. We don't want to waste your life, son". Then i heard voice from behind. There was sitting maybe about 40yo man with strange accent. ,,You have gift in your legs boy. I saw you last week on the pitch. You must do something with this. Maybe one day Guy above will say that you'll be great footballer? It would be stupid if you wouln't try"...
5th April 2005
,,We are nearly close"- those words took me out from sleep. An old mercedes stopped after 5 minutes, maybe less. I was looking everywhere until i got spin feeling in my head. Old man laughed ,,Don't be afraid, this is Kutaisi. Georgia will make people from you". Georgia? How far from home am i? Will i see my family again? What if not?
7th April 2005
Mr. Masashvili- that's the name of old man who took me here, today took me to Torpedo club. I was impressed because of Club Facilities. Never saw something from anything i met here. Now i must say that i don't like Senior team's boss- he even didn't looked, din't interested in me! Just said ,,get that kid to youth team". And that's all... ok, let's start from here i said to myself
1st August 2005
Senior's boss want me to join first team today! Can't wait. But it doesn't mean i'm not nervous...
13th August 2005, first League fixture
Last 12 days i had worst time in my life... Couldn't even move after hard trainings. But i'm still hard-working because somewhere there, in my home village people counts on me...
31st December 2005, Summary
And came end of the year... My time in Kutaisi went to the end... i'm not good enough for them. It isn't surprise for me- i couldn't find my place here, in Kutaisi. I had serious problems with everything and some else... And of course luck of professionalism... Want to forget about everything what happened here... hm, sport side? Played only twice. Fisrt match against Lokomotiv Kutaisi in 3rd League week. Came in 64min. Played nice, hit the bar after strong heading in crowd in penalty box. Press wasn't happy with my performance and gave my rating 6, because of my age and debut. And second match? Against Dila Gori at the end of October. Nightmare... Came in 68mins and nothing given from me that match. Wanted but couldn't shortly. We scored one and lost one and after final whistle it was 1:2
1st January 2006
Got some offers from Georgian clubs, but i decided to leave this country because i hate it after everything what happened there. It was very hard to find something nice but at least mr. Masashvili managed to find place where i would be able to get breath and build up my confidence. Our choice is Minatori Tepelene from second Albanian league. Not bad place to rebuilt myself from start...
11th January 2006, Albanian debut (Pogradeci, Away)
Mid-season break ended and here came time for football. Difference beetween my level and others is quite big, i have chance to be someone here. Today fixture against Pogradeci, which is 3rd in league, just 1 point behind us. Everybody were sure that it will be hard match for both teams. Atmosphere on filled to last place stadium was hot. But at least the pitch situation wasn't. Fast 0:3 for us with my amazing assist in it. Soft lob behind defence line to coming up striker which did with goalkeeper the same what i just did with their defence. Match ended 0:4 and i was chosen as Man of the Match with rating 9! Nothing strange if you saw my play- great dribbling and passing, much higher levelled than others on the pitch... I started to like this country
14th January 2006
Warming up day after and day before match is all we had. Didn't have time for anything other than next match against KS Lushnja. They are second from back of table (11th) but we must concentrate to stay on leadership which we have after last match. Today supporters weren't interested that much as 3 days ago- stadium was nearly empty. ,,It doesn't matter, just do it for ouselves" said boss, after which he told us tactics for today. With me on attacking center midfield. Everything other is nothing... Everybody else are nothing- that;s what we wanted to show today! and we did it... 2:0 at half time, easily. Easily as my scissors kick goal. Not sure that Albania already saw goal like mine today's in their country. It didn't have precision, but had great power. Center of goal, just where keeper was, but what he could do? it just blasted his net. Second half 1:1 what give us 3:1 at final whistle. My days here are counted... ,,The world is yours" as Grandpa used to say
25th January 2006, Surprising phone call
I was sitting calmly after training session. What a beatiful time it was. But it turned to much more beatiful when i answered the phone. I was called up to Kazakhstan national team! 1st February in Pavlodar Kazakhstan will meet with Ukraine in last World Cup 2008 Qualifications match. What a surprise, really couldn't believe. It's too beautiful and surprising. After running and shouting around my rent house i ran to cafe from which i bought 7 tickets for family plus 1 for mr. Masashvili to make them possible to watch me in my debut...
28th January 2006, Match on the Top
Minatori Telepene vs Erzeni Shijak, the match on top of second Albanian league. All tickets sold nearly week ago. It couldn't be normal match. Fans wanted theater today. Theater? No, they wanted war! And they did it on stadium... What a shame... Our and Erzeni's captain had to beg supporters to stop that. Referee stopped match for nearly 10min, but at least restarted it. Thankfully, because we had just 2 points more than them. Game restarted from 54mins. And it was our day from this moment. Again my through pass gave us 1:0 lead. Ten minutes before ending whistle we managed to score second goal. That was enough. Luckily, because our attacker- Gjon Ryta missed empty box twice from 5 meters! We had nice laugh from him later, but what if it would be 0:0 or worse- 0:1? Don't want even think about it. Now is coming Kazakhstan-Ukraine match. Let's concentrate on this...
1st February 2006, National Team Debut
Before last match of this qualifications Kazakhstan was last in their group with only 2 points. And without any possibilities of getting on higher position. Good for me, there's no bigger pression than it's already is. And that's enough for me. I'm still 17 and my football experience isn't good- 5 matches in career, never played 90mins yet, twice in this came in second half and 3 times was subbed off in 70-80mins. And now i had to go on the same pitch as Shevchenko... Must show my skills, it will be big step for me.
We played nearly on the same level against them. Yeah... Until 34mins when Yakovenko scored first time from10 meters to empty box after our goalkeeper's save. The same happened in 43mins... Our energy was going lower and lower and they were dominating more and more. 67mins- Yakovenko completed his hat-trick. I was giving everything what i had, even more. But it went to nothing each time. Simply it was impossible for us to beat Ukraine that day. Manager decided that's enough for me in 85mins and he subbed me. I played not bad match, press said that i was best player in our side. But what it can mean if you're losing 0:3 at home?
Qualifications ended. I hope my International career didn't...