© EuroFootball.com
It is really not easy for a reserve goalkeeper who has been waiting for five years. But he ignored logic and waited for his turn. It finally paid off - the new season of the Russian Championship goalkeeper starts as the "first number" in Moscow's "Dynamo" club. Here is an interview with the main goalkeeper of the Lithuanian national team by the Sport Express correspondent.
- The last Lithuanian goalkeeper who managed to make a career in Russia was Gintaras Staučė. Many years ago...
- In fact, we are very similar, we were even born in the same city - Alytus. But I don't know where Gintaras is now (Staučė is playing for the Latvian "Jūrmala" club - ed.). He disappeared from my life.
- Now you speak Russian easily.
- When I first arrived in Moscow, I could not speak at all and did not understand anything. Young people in Lithuania no longer speak Russian.
- Do you think in Russian now?
- More in Lithuanian. It is enough to spend some time at home to "switch" to the Lithuanian language, but in Moscow everything comes back. Here I still get lost almost every day and don't know where to go. Previously, because I didn't want to go to restaurants, I lived ordering pizza to my house. It was easier.
- It's incredible how you managed to avoid stomach ulcers! And if you hadn't established yourself in the "Dynamo" team?
- I would go back home and raise chickens. Just kidding. But of course, I was lucky because "Dynamo" immediately offered me a contract. You know how much I used to earn in Lithuania?
- How much?
- 500 dollars. It seemed like more than enough - I am young, live at the base, everything is ready. But I couldn't save a cent.
- Probably after your first salary at "Dynamo" club, you felt like a millionaire?
- No, I don't feel like a millionaire even now. Although back then the enthusiasm rose - I thought about how much I can buy. It was important to establish yourself. I even bought an older car - a BMW 3 series. It's hard for a footballer to do without a car.
- To start playing in Moscow, you have to love the city.
- I liked it. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have stayed here for six years. I go back to Alytus - and the first three days feel somehow strange. I'm glad that what would be boring in Moscow!
- Who is the most peculiar of your friends that you met in Moscow?
- Ovčinikov. He is a good person, we almost became friends. By the way, Sergey added to my goalkeeper wardrobe and gave his. Now his uniform is next to Casillas' and Buffon's uniforms.
- Your home in Moscow?
- In Lithuania. Here I rent an apartment for myself.
- Do you still keep in touch with Ovčinikov?
- No.
- You also had another competitor - Nunu. You said that that guy even provoked you to conflict?
- Yes, that's the kind of person he is.
- What kind of person is he?
- He is the kind of person for whom team doesn't matter, and he cares only about himself. When Nunu played, the guys tried to establish normal relationships with him, supported him. But he looked down on everyone, so eventually everyone stopped communicating with him.
- Did you avoid each other at all?
- Almost. Avoiding meetings at the club was difficult, but in the end almost no one spoke to him.
- But was he a good goalkeeper?
- Normal, played for quite a few teams. As a goalkeeper, I have no complaints about him, just as a person.
- By the way, where did he go?
- I'm not sure. He trained with the reserves for a while, and then it seems he was loaned out.
- When did you debut in the team?
- The first time I was on the bench in Elista - after Berezovsky. The coach wanted to let me on the field, but I had no shin guards - Česnauskis chased me before the match. By the time they found and brought them, the substitution was over.
Real debut when they let you out from the first minutes was against "Zenit". We won 7-1. It was funny then - it seemed so easy to play in the top league! However, the goal situation was slightly spoiled for me by Kerzhakov. I joked - apparently, he maintained the intrigue. I will never forget those matches.
- What else?
- Without a doubt, the match for the Lithuanian national team in Italy, when we played 1-1.
- They say those games were fantastic for you.
- It was a bit lucky. Sometimes I was hit, sometimes I saved. Familiar faces everywhere. Like Inzaghi.
- I guess you also remember the match against "Torpedo" last year, when you lost 0-3.
- I looked for reasons in myself, not in the team. Each goal fell on my conscience. I remember the silence in the locker room. The next day the whole team talked, but normally, without quarrels. Despite that, we never thought we could drop to a lower league.
- If "Dynamo" hadn't rejected Ovčinikov, would you have been ready to stay as the second goalkeeper?
- My contract still had a year left, and I don't know what I would have done. It's unclear if "Dynamo" would want to keep me on the bench. But I sat there for five years already - maybe I would have continued to sit. In reality, everything was fair - who would keep a goalkeeper on the bench who is head and shoulders above the others. In any case, I always felt support from the club. The same Kobelev used to say, "Don't worry, you'll play again!"
- But at Bucharest's "Dynamo" club? The newspapers wrote that the club was interested in you?
- I also read such news, but in five years there was no serious interest from any club.
- Not even from "Hearts"?
- I won't lie, there was a conversation with "Hearts." More precisely, it was with the owner Romanov. I simply offered him to talk to the club. I said, "You understand that in this matter nothing depends on me."
- Were you convinced you would get a chance?
- I was. Although it would be more accurate to say that I believed, yes.
- You waited for five years. Is that very long?
- That's not the word...
- In the morning, do you already know how you will play in the evening?
- On the contrary, I can never predict. As strange as it may sound, it does not depend on mood or health. I am the type of person who needs to stay calm. You can't pour out anger on the field, I know now that it doesn't help.
- Recently Andrei Arshavin was asked when "Zenit" will be champions, and he confidently replied: "In 2007." But when will "Dynamo" become champions?
- In 2007. I have no doubt.
- Once you were asked why you don't greet fans as Ovčinikov and Berezovski used to. Do you remember what you answered?
- No, I don't remember. What did I say?
- "I'm shy." - Ah, yes. But now I'm not shy anymore. Now I greet the fans.
- But are you still a shy person?
- In general, yes. Although I know very well that shyness holds you back.
- How do you familiarize yourself with Moscow girls?
- I struggle with that too, but often I overcome myself and usually communicate.
- What is the biggest insult you have ever experienced from the coach's side?
- It was during the Baltic Cup games when I debuted in the Lithuanian national team. In two games, we conceded three goals, and all three were my mistakes. I was deeply hurt. The coach Liubinskas didn't say anything to me after the game, but later I found his interview in the newspaper: "We lost only because of Karčemarskas."
- What did you think?
- It hurt a lot. It felt like I was the only one playing on the field.
- Did you discuss this with the coach?
- It didn't work out. But now our relationship is good. I am a normal person, I accept criticism, but it should be told to me personally, not to journalists.
- Once in some Korean team I met your namesake...
- That's not a namesake, that's my brother (Rolandas Karčemarskas - ed.). He plays as a forward. He left football for three years, but later resumed his career. It was difficult, but he succeeded. Now he is 27 years old, has a contract with Vilnius "Vėtra." But for some reason Tarchanov (the coach of "Vėtra") didn't take him to the camp in Turkey.
- You often hear that goalkeepers are strange people. - Very often. For example, before matches, I used to treat the goalposts as living beings, talked to them. Now I've stopped - goalposts are goalposts. They are lifeless, they don't understand anything. I dismiss all talks about the strangeness of goalkeepers with humor.
