Euro 2016: Time For Armenia’S Men To Deliver Is Now

EURO 2016: TIME FOR ARMENIA’S MEN TO DELIVER IS NOW

The National, UAE
Oct 10 2014

Jonathan Wilson
October 9, 2014

At such an early stage of the qualification campaign, with the top two
in each group to qualify and third place guaranteed a play-off place,
there is no need to panic.

But football does not just hinge on points and performances;
perception also matters, which makes Armenia’s qualifier at home to
Serbia tomorrow of great significance.

Nobody is sure any more what Armenia are. For 20 years after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, they were just another minnow.

But then, suddenly, in qualifying for the last European Championships,
they had three straight wins, scored 11 goals in the process and
played fluid, neat, attacking -football.

Without warning they became a breakout side, a team that could cast
aside the predictability of modern football on the back of a young
generation of players, who, together, were far more than the sum of
their parts.

A red card for their goalkeeper and an own goal in their final
qualifier – away to the Republic of Ireland – cost Armenia a place in
the play-offs, but the assumption was that the side, led by Borussia
Dortmund’s attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, would continue
to progress.

Then they finished second bottom of their World Cup qualifying group,
but there are mitigating circumstances.

It was a tough and tight group and Armenia did achieve some good
results, most notably winning 4-0 away to Denmark.

But even though they finished just three points off second place,
there was a sense of progress stalled. Vardan Minasyan was replaced as
manager by the former Switzerland Under 21 coach Bernard Challandes,
but his start was disappointing as Armenia lost 2-1 in Denmark.

With Albania winning 1-0 in Portugal, the group now looks a genuine
five-way fight, or at least it will if Armenia can get off the mark.

Serbia, though, also has a fine crop of emerging talent and Armenia
will be hampered by the foot injury that has ruled out Mkhitaryan.

That Armenia are even considered contenders for qualification is a
sign of their enhanced status.

Their greatest moment as a football nation came in 1973 when Ararat
Yerevan, which functioned as a de facto national side in Soviet times,
won an unexpected double under Nikita Simonyan, who had already won
the double as a player and coach at Spartak Moscow.

He was of Armenian heritage and had essentially been exiled to his
homeland following disagreements with officials at Spartak.

“It was much harder to win the league with Ararat than it was with
Spartak Moscow,” Simonyan said. “We had some good players, but
essentially we were a provincial side. I had to change my personal
style, because the players had a different mentality.

“We had two Ukrainians in the side, but they had lived in Yerevan
from childhood, so they had adopted the spirit of the people.

“Players from the south are more skilful, more technical, even if
it is bad for the team as a collective. You have to stick them to
each other.”

That process of sticking the players to each other, of creating a
cohesive unit in which they can express their individual ability,
probably began under the former Sunderland midfielder and Chelsea
manager Ian Porterfield, who took charge in 2006 and oversaw 10 games
before his death from cancer the following year.

Although just two were wins, what was significant was that only nine
goals were conceded.

Minasyan had served as Porterfield’s assistant and took over from him
as caretaker. “The results do not suddenly come out of the blue,”
he said. “We have many young players who have earned the coaches’
trust and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done.

“Our football is based on mutual trust. Everyone has the same approach,
be it the coaches, the players, the Football Federation of Armenia
or our team doctors. We are a whole and healthy mechanism.”

The squad is still young, the majority of players in their early 20s,
but there is a sense that the clock is ticking, that promise can soon
wither if there is not progress towards fulfilment.

Given the nature of the group, and given how important momentum is,
Armenia could do with starting to deliver tomorrow.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress