Ilya Kazakov

It was at “NTV-Plus” 1996-style where the process of turning me into a commentator took place. Anna Dmitrieva, Evgeniy Mayorov and Dmitriy Ryzhkov as the members of the admission board, Vasya Utkin and Dima Fedorov as the vicious warrant officers to torment the recruits, Vladimir Maslachenko as a football god. To be more precise — one of his avatars. A great way to learn everything you need in life. We, youngsters who knew nothing about journalism or football, were like putty in their hands. It’s only now that we start to realize how lucky we were to be there.

Women overseas watch football because of the macho-like football players. Whereas every single guy in our team is a dedicated family man. Well, at least that’s what they all say in their interviews. And even if for some reason they do leave their wives, they marry again almost straight away. That is exactly the reason why Russian housewives aren’t too keen on going through all the suffering sitting by that TV screen when they don’t even have a chance for some sweet fantasy in their dreams, let alone the love.

Is Guus Hiddink a magician? Well, what he did can definitely be considered as granting those three wishes, at least for the supporters of our team. 1) He came here. 2) He took our national team to the Euro. 3) He got us the bronze medals.

I’ve got a well-tried remedy for stress. To close my eyes, feel my wife kissing me… And here’s when the new stress starts. The one you can control. No, rather put it this way — the one you can direct.

My most memorable journey was my honey moon. The three days that we spent in Ossetia were filled with Gergiev’s first concert in Vladikavkaz since the Beslan crisis, the civil ceremony, the wedding service at a highland monastery, festivities with friends. And after that was the second part, when Masha came to join me for the European Championship. We only had a chance to see each other at odd moments, but it still was a fantastic month.

I saw, standing behind the goal, how in 1998 still very young Ronaldo played against Spartak. That was a real miracle. The toothy little bugger just grabbed the ball and headed towards Filimonov’s goal as if he had wings. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The players of Spartak must have felt the same. I had never seen anything like that in my entire life, and neither have I managed to experience anything similar ever since.

I can’t pick the best match of my life. Honestly. Russia vs Holland at Euro 2008 or Sporting vs CSKA in UEFA Cup Final in 2005? I don’t know how it is possible to pick one match out of these two. And there are still more, like, Andorra vs Russia, Russia vs England, Zenit vs MU. But the most unforgettable one is, probably, Dinamo vs Spartak, also in 1996. My first match on TV. I was then working as a reporter for the “Futbolniy Klub” (Russian for “Football Club”, a name of the TV program — TN).