"The players invited to the training camp are the best at the moment!" - Katanec explained why he did not invite Jamshid Iskanderov to the national team

A press conference was held ahead of the international tournament "Navruz Cup". It was attended by the head coach of the Uzbek national team Srecko Katanec, who expressed the following views:

"Assalamu alaykum to all of you. What I expect in a friendly match is that I can see the condition of the players. It will be a big test for new players. We have players who have never played under me. Of course, we always want to win.

To be honest, I will never win a friendly match as my first goal. Who understands this, it's a reference. We should never hold ourselves under such pressure. this control game in its own name. 

There are a lot of players who can wear the national team uniform. Some of them may now be called, for example, Iskanderov. But the list is limited and I can't invite everyone to the training. The players called up now are the best at the moment!

I can't fully comment on the opponent team. I don't know why they didn't make it to the third qualifying round of the World Championship. It has been a very short time since the meeting started. We watched the end of last season. The fact that the fate of the first place was decided in advance is a testament to the level of the domestic championship.

I also saw the start of this season and for now, I think it's a little early to comment. As a result of my observations last year, I remembered legionnaires like Aliboev and Ashurmatov. In fact, it is necessary to analyze why they are returning to Uzbekistan. 

I do not see players like Shakhboz Umarov and Jasur Yakhshibaev constantly moving in the games. The same can be said about Eldar Shomurodov and Oston Urunov. Jaloliddin Masharipov has started to return to the starting lineup in the last matches.

My job is to select the best Uzbek footballers and include them in the national ream. But I hardly see them in the club. That's why I think anything can happen in tomorrow's match. To be honest, if all our legionnaires were playing in full, we could be in a better position. 

I can definitely say that when I was at the stadium in Namangan, I witnessed a lot of fans. They were very supportive of FC Navbahor. I think it will be the same tomorrow with the participation of the Uzbek NT. 

Of course, this also depends on the weather. I don't know how two consecutive games on one pitch will affect the quality. In the first round, Navbakhor fans applauded and supported each other during the opponent's attacks. I think they are very smart people.

Who said that Ibrahimkhalil Yuldashev and Hussein Norchaev will spend a lot of time with the Olympic team? True, they have this year's Asian Championship. We talk a lot about this. But NT also needs to get a qualification for the Asian Cup. I don't know which tournament will be given more attention, but believe me, if I think they are needed by the national team, they will be in our team.

Will Shomurodov, who is on the bench at the club tomorrow, play in the starting lineup or other legionary strikers who are the main players?

Of course, we trust Eldor Shomurodov. We also intend to give Sherzod Temirov time. Eldor is the community leader. We have leading players like Shomurodov, Masharipov, Shukurov. Each of them has a leader, but only one. I wanted to give it to Eldor, because he played more games than the rest of the team.

Since there is no other stadium in Namangan, all the games have been held here and we cannot protest. This may be true for young people, but it is a bit difficult for national teams. But we can all know tomorrow. 

I am convinced that after the first game the quality of the field will suffer. The reason is that it is raining a lot. I do not want to use this as an excuse, the opponent will play under the same conditions as us. We have to adapt to everything. When I looked at the quality of the pitch after the first-round match between FC Navbahor and FC Nasaf, I felt that its quality had decreased. But we have no choice."