THE Olympic made history in Nyon a few days ago, since the miraculous K19 brought the first European title to Greece in the field of football, beating Milan 3-0.
The mastermind behind this success, Sotiris Sylaidopouloswas hosted on bwinSPORT FM and spoke about the magical journey of the “red and white” from the first match against Lecce to the victorious final against the “rosoneri”.
The Greek technician, who now belongs to the staff of the first team and is at his side Jose Luis Mendiliber, emphasized that he had told his “kids” at the beginning of the season that the goal is to build a dynasty. He noted that after the away match against Lecce he began to believe that this team can go far in the Youth League, with the … title germ coming in after qualifying against Inter and his speech Vangelis Marinakis.
THE Sotiris Sylaidopoulos he also praised the Olympiacos organization for the way it works, saying that it follows the standards of the major European clubs in terms of academies, while he gave K19 the title of the top Greek team that has existed in history.
Detailed excerpts from the interview of Sotiris Sylaidopoulos with Babis Christoglou and Stavros Chondrothimio:
For the upcoming Intercontinental: “It’s still far away, on August 24, when that moment comes we’ll see. We still have five matches in the league, we want to win it for the second year in a row. It’s something we’ve said since the beginning of the year, that we want to build a dynasty.”
How will he bring them back to… earth after winning the Youth League: “I think we’ve got a very strong attitude, in terms of maturity and managing emotions. The children, Dimitris Mavrogennidis, the coaches and all the staff are doing an excellent job in this area as well. I’m sure in terms of attitude and behavior, the foundations are very strong. The first conversation in Rentis after the conquest is that we now have to focus on what is in front of us. When you represent such a big club you have to get used to that and prove every day that you deserve to wear this shirt.”
From what point onward did he believe that his team could win the European title: “All this experience and the process of the games, was a process of evolution and improvement. Evaluation of work and children. I believed a lot before the away game against Lecce, I told them if we go through we can go very high. Inter made it very difficult for us from the Italian teams, but if you look at Milan in the semi-final and the previous games, I think we made Milan look like it was an easy game. After Inter and with the speech of Marinakis who first emphasized to them that they can conquer it, the germ and the thought entered everyone’s mind”.
What are the differences between European and domestic games: “This event gives you the opportunity to compete and compete at a high level with different cultures and schools. We are a purely Greek team compared to the opponents who had foreign players. The pace and intensity is completely different compared to the matches in Greece. What we stressed to the guys was that we have some fundamentals that we wanted to play, that we kept consistent, that made the difference in the end. We knew what we wanted on the pitch, we are a team with a beginning, middle and end and we got it right”
On whether he should be an educator in addition to a coach: “We followed a specific plan these years, what I emphasize to the children is that any success is built through your everyday life. Everything is connected. We have to be educators as well and we have to show them things, make them understand that the next step is not so easy”
For the next step of K19 children: “The goal of the developmental ages is to have kids play in the first team, I said that before our success. Olympiacos can expect a lot from these guys. Of the teams that participated in the Youth League and especially in the semi-finals, statistics from three players will play at a high level. Without wanting to cut the children’s feathers. If Olympiacos manages to have 3-4 of these guys in the first team, then it will be a big gain. Benfica for example aim to promote at least one child to the first team every year. “Olympiacos has over 40 players currently in Super League teams who have played in or come out of the Olympiacos academy.”
On whether winning the trophy makes the presence of the U19 players in the first team even more imperative: “The biggest gain from this success is to change the mindset and logic a little bit. We proved to ourselves and to European football that there is a lot of talent in the Greek footballers, an organization that works properly. It was also mentioned in the final that Olympiacos won the Youth League, has a team in the semi-finals of the Conference and is a huge boost for the club and Greek football. Olympiacos managed to turn the spotlight of all of Europe on the organization”
On the differences in the way of work for young people and men: “Certainly the pros have huge shows, management is different. But the principles do not change. When you’re a high-level player, you can pick up on things much faster than kids. These kids have little differences compared to a men’s team, they are of a very high level.”
On the way the U19 play with high pressing and all these elements that they bring out on the pitch, in addition to individual talent: “The teams that have won titles, the most important elements they had were… invisible. In football there must be a holistic approach, you must know how to defend, attack, have the right transition. We wanted to present ourselves as the best U19 in the history of the club, maybe we are the best that has existed in Greece. I put our team in one of the best teams that have existed in Greek football, based on the image it gave”.
For the differences with the European clubs regarding academies in operation and facilities: “Olympiacos is a European club, its facilities, its training center, all these you only find in European clubs. It showed in all the matches that the boys played against a club like Milan for example and felt equal, there was no feeling of inferiority and it proved the same against both Inter and Bayern Munich. Olympiacos has nothing to envy, it is a huge European size. I also told the guys before the final, it doesn’t mean that the opponents because they are in Milan are better than us.”
For those who follow after the “golden bread” of K19: “Even in this team there are guys who have played less but can become first class. There is a lot of talent in this team that we haven’t seen yet, just like in the U17 and U16. We can expect too much. I hope we go to the final with the first team because it will be something very strong for the club”.
Source: Sport Fm
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