New LA Galaxy Technical Director Jovan Kirovski is hoping to bring his unique experience –which includes being the first American to win the UEFA Champions League—to the Galaxy.
A few of quotes from my conversation with Kirovski are below…
(On whether the goal is to have a unified playing style between the Academy and the first team....)
KIROVSKI: “We want our teams to play the same way in an attacking style. We’re the Galaxy and we want to play attractive and attacking soccer. That’s what we try to do across the whole club. We want to entertain, but we also want to win. We want to win championships in the first team, we want to win at the Academy level in doing that, we want to play our way which is attractive and attacking soccer with flair and entertainment because that’s what we are.”
(On what the Academy learned from participating in Dallas Cup…)
KIROVSKI: “For me it was seeing the standard of play in Europe and across the world. We had a good showing, but I know that we’re still a little bit behind. In that group, we have a few very good players like Drew Murphy, Nathan Smith, Raul Mendiola, Paul Arriola, who are very good, but as a group we’re still a little bit behind those teams like Fulham, the Brazilian teams and others. We’re close, but we’re still behind and that’s our job to try and be at that level.”
(On how to bridge the gap between those teams…)
KIROVSKI: “They’ve been around longer, they’re in a soccer environment, the kids watch soccer all the time, but we’re creating that more and more. When I played, club soccer teams trained twice a week now we have a program where we have our kids training four times a week and playing on the weekends. We’re playing all the time and have a structure and philosophy that says how we want to play. We’re getting better and better. It’s getting there and it takes times, but if you look at some of the players that have come through in our first team, it’s unbelievable. We’re going to get bigger and better and have more players coming through.”
(On building a professional environment while going up against Residency programs…)
KIROVSKI: “The way we set up our sessions, the way that we train every day. These people have residency, but our kids live nearby it’s better for them. They get to be with their families and they get professional coaching at a high level and they get that environment here. For me, it’s better for our kids to be home in Southern California and get that. I believe that we’re better than the U.S. Soccer residency program for sure.”
