We Need Discipline First: Bayramyan on the Armenian National Team

Horen Bayramyan, a player for Rostov and the Armenian national team, spoke about the performances of the Armenian national team in an interview with Match TV.

"In the last two years, the Armenian national team was led by the famous Spanish coach Joaquin Capacius. And everything started off very well. Armenia won for the first time in an official tournament, finishing first in its group in the C division of the Nations League, had a good start in the World Cup qualifying round, and achieved the longest unbeaten streak in its history (9 matches). How did this happen?" Bayramyan asked. "Several factors. First, foreign methods. There are also Spanish specialists in the staff of Georgich (Rostov's head coach Valeri Karpin), who oversee the diets, etc. Everything was going well and interesting. Second, new players came—Russian speakers who played in the RPL. Me, Spertsian, Yurchenko, Karapetyan, who was playing for Sochi at that time, and the other guys. A certain balance was struck between Armenian creativity and the discipline we learned in Russia. Additionally, there was a war in Artsakh at that time. That was very motivating. Of course, luck was also on our side. That is also Capacius's merit. He is a motivator. We have good players, but my personal opinion is that we need discipline first and foremost. We need someone from Armenia, or from the CIS countries, who understands the Armenian mentality to instill this discipline. Once that happens, everything will be fine."

"So what went wrong then? 0:5 against Macedonia at home, 0:9 against Norway, a string of defeats…"

"Perhaps at some point, everyone thought we were the greatest. First and foremost, the players, the team. Secondly, at some point, the connection between the coach and the team was lost. Players did not listen to what the coach wanted. And the coach may not have heard what the players wanted. But this is a complex topic; I don’t want to talk too much about it."