Russian coach talks of triumph after Russia regains title in Dubai

The head coach Mikhail Likhachev answered questions about how the European beach soccer giants stumbled in 2015 but rebounded

Russia finished the season strong as they took apart their opponents ne route to a convincing finals victory over Tahiti, but the man behind the bench, and orchestrator of the Russian magic, Mikhail Likhachev, took time to answer questions about the current state of his team and how it feels to hold one of the three most prestigious titles in the sport.

BSWW – First, thank you for your time. Now, your team looked as good if not better than they have ever looked, what changed between the World Cup, the Euro Season, and Dubai?

Mikhail Likhachev – Thank you, and it is my pleasure. It was very important for us to win this title beacause we had not been very successful on the season, despite finishing 3rd in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. However, the main thing is that we have managed to show good beach soccer and our semi-final and final matches (in Dubai) were actually the best we played all year, in terms of performance on this season.

BSWW – You certainly looked like World Champions in Dubai. How does it feel to be champion again after missing out the last two years?

Mikhail Likhachev – Of course, well we were very sorry to miss out on the title in the last two Intercontinental Cups, so this season we desired to win this event more than ever. From the very first match we were only thinking victory and the work we had done during the pre-event training camp helped us to put in a good performance, and we looked strong. From my point of view, we can be very optimistic about the future.

BSWW – You do always seem to have an abundance of capable players. When do preparations start for next season and what does the preparation entail?

Mikhail Likhachev – Now the players are on holidays, then they will be with their clubs. We will watch them during their pre-season tournaments and in April and in May we will start the preparations for the new season, we will hold a training camp and we (the coaching staff) will do our best to motivate them for even more achievements.