Armenia NT in 2012-13: Great players, woeful management

Nobel Arustamyan revealed over the weekend that Armenian nationals Yura Movsisyan and Aras Ozbiliz will be leaving Spartak Moscow on loan to other, so far undisclosed teams. Below are my articles on Yura's and Henrikh Mkhitaryan's accomplishments in their clubs and national team.

Movsisyan started his tenure at Spartak with a hat trick

Yura Movsisyan signs `huge contract' with top Russian club

by Emil Sanamyan

The Armenian Reporter
Published: Sunday December 09, 2012

WASHINGTON - Armenia international Yura Movsisyan has signed on with the most popular Russian football club Spartak Moscow, the athlete and his new and former clubs confirmed on December 8.

Owner of FC Krasnodar Sergey Galitsky said in his Twitter that "we let Yura go since he was offered a huge contract. He did a lot for us. We thank him for everything... and he knows that he can always come here." In 2011 and 2012, Movsisyan scored 23 goals in 50 matches for FC Krasnodar.

Media reports suggest that Spartak gave the 25-year-old Movsisyan a five-year contract and a salary valued at between 1.5 and possibly over 2 million Euros. The transfer was estimated at 8 million Euros, and if this is correct it is the highest amount ever paid for an Armenian national team player.

The previous record was set by Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk who acquired Henrik Mkhitaryan for about 6 million Euros in 2010. This season, Mkhitaryan has emerged as the top goal scorer in the Ukrainian championship with 18 goals in 17 matches, his transfer value has risen to over 17 million Euros.

Movsisyan also had a bumper season playing for mid-ranked FC Krasnodar, scoring 9 goals in 13 matches. At Spartak he will first need to win a spot on the main squad, with the Moscow team currently retaining five other forwards. The team is currently languishing in the 9th place, just a spot ahead of FC Krasnodar. But unlike Movsisyan's former team, FC Spartak is in a perennial hunt for top prizes.

Movsisyan can be inspired by the fact that his compatriot Nikita Simonyan remains Spartak's top goal scorer in history, knocking in 133 goals in 233 matches between 1949 and 1959. Simonyan subsequently coached FC Ararat Yerevan in its glory days in the early 1970s.

Having joined the Armenian national team in recent years, players like Mkhitaryan, Movsisyan and Aras Ozbiliz - with 7 goals in 15 matches for Russia's FC Kuban this season - make Armenia a team to be reckoned with today and in years to come.

Armenian Reporter

Armenia football: time for management change

Commentary by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Tuesday March 26, 2013

Armenia has lost its third straight match in the World Cup qualification campaign and has essentially lost all chances of going to Brazil. It is not like the chances were great from the start -Armenia did end up in one of the toughest qualification groups. But fans around the world expected much more from the very talented offensive line than a total of two goals in four matches, for an aggregate of 2-7.

These performances revealed and made more acute the particular problems with player selection, tactics and motivation that are the domain of the team management. They stand in particular contrast with successes of the team's players in their clubs. This naturally calls for an assessment of management failures of Armenia's football federation chair Ruben Hovannisyan and coach Vardan Minasyan.

Certainly, had Armenia won all or most of its recent matches, the many of the problems listed below may have continued to be overlooked. But following the abysmal performances, it is useful to review the list of sins and omissions.

Motivation

Speaking after the 0-3 loss to the Czechs on March 26, Minasyan came across as not quite adequate psychologically. Far from sounding apologetic about the result, he lashed out at journalists in a passive aggressive tone: "Did I ever saying we were going to Brazil? Our aim is to improve our game... Our level of play hasn't worsened, we just stopped getting results."

After struggling to put a goal past Malta, Armenia have not played a single qualification match in a motivated manner for complete 90 minutes. Armenia folded to Bulgaria, Italy and the Czechs long before the final whistle. All this is evidence of Minasyan's failure to motivate many of his players to remain focused on the game for its entire duration.

In comments following the match, one of Armenia's top players Henrikh Mkhitaryan took a swipe at several unnamed teammates that he believed did not play the game full-steam. But the problem with having unmotivated players on the field is not with these players per se, it is with the coach who puts them on the field. And today, the range of Minasyan's options has improved compared to what it was in 2010 and 2011.

In those years, Armenia did not always shine, but motivation was clearly there in all matches, including in the matches it lost to Ireland and Russia.

And when Armenia's players aren't coached by Minasyan, they remain rather motivated. Mkhitaryan is the top goal scorer in Ukraine's premiere league, having racked up 19 goals in 20 matches; Yura Movsisyan leads Russia's goal scorers with 12 goals in 15 matches and Aras Ozbilis is not that far behind with 8 goals in 16 matches.

Tactics

Armenia came to the March 26 match with its two insides (most significantly Karlen Mkrtchyan) and one defender disqualified, and three other players injured. This precipitated perhaps the most fateful decision of the match: Minasyan put Mkhitaryan to defensive tasks. Instead of sticking to short passing game that brought it success in the past, Armenia relied on long balls from the goalkeeper Roman Berezovski and right flank approaches by the young Kamo Hovannisyan. Neither tactic proved effective.

While Movsisyan and Marcos Pizzelli created some danger for the Czechs, with Mkhitaryan pulled back the offensive play looked disjointed. Edgar Manucharyan and Gevorg Ghazaryan, who have not had playing experience in their respective clubs for months, looked bleak; Ozbilis and Artur Sarkisov who have done great for their clubs in recent weeks did not come into play until late in the game, when Armenia already allowed the first Czech goal.

And that first Czech goal was as banal as the second and third Italian goals, and as many of the goals Armenia allowed in previous matches. Armenian defenders were once again beaten on a high pass. This keeps happening primarily because most of the Armenian players are vertically challenged. The only defender above 180 cm (6 ft.) tall deployed against the Czechs was Robert Arzumanyan and he too did not play his best match. The 190 cm tall Artem Khachaturov recently recruited from Moldova remained on the bench. While at 20 years, Khachaturov may lack experience, Minasyan's choice - Taron Voskanian - was lacking in both experience and height.

Selection

The questionable tactical choices for specific matches come on the back of even more questionable selection policies of the national team. Repeatedly in recent years, Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) chair Ruben Hayrapetyan took a personal dislike of players, including several that could well compensate for Armenia's height disadvantages (Joaquin Boghossian, Denis Tumasyan, Grigor Meliksetyan), on the grounds of their allegedly insufficient patriotism or lack of skill.

"Don't ever ask me about" so-and-so, Hayrapetyan would tell journalists, when asked about a particular Armenian player he would not be recruiting. This same attitude left Armenia with an untested (and also vertically challenged) substitute goalkeeper after Berezovski was sent off in a crucial match against Ireland in 2011.

Even more obviously woeful has been FFA planning for friendlies that are expected to prepare Armenia for the qualification matches. In preparation for the match with the Czech Republic, Armenia was scheduled to play with two football minnows Luxembourg in February and Turkmenistan in March. The latter match got cancelled due to re-scheduling in the Asian qualification tournaments, leaving Armenia to play against its own under-21 team. And the Luxembourg match was played on an awful quality pitch in the middle-of-nowhere French town that lacked television coverage.

Last year, FFA scheduled two matches in two days, effectively leaving the secondary roster to play against Serbia, with the main team playing Canada the following day.

A way forward

Whatever may be his sins elsewhere, Hayrapetyan does deserve recognition for his role in Armenian football, particularly for the development of FC Pyunik, which he founded in 1992 and that helped produce players like Mkhitaryan, Mkrtchyan, Manucharyan, Ghazaryan and others, as well as the building of the Avan sports academy, which opened in 2010. But after more than a decade of Hayrapetyan as head of FFA, it is time for a change.

Thankfully, Hayrapetyan is not the only one to have generously contributed to the development of Armenian football. The most attractive replacement is probably Oleg Mkrtchyan, a billionaire businessman who is the chief sponsor for Russia's FC Kuban (with Ozbilis and Pizelli), Ukraine's FC Metallurg (with Mkrtchyan and Ghazaryan) and Armenia's FC Banants. Mkrtchyan has also helped Armenia's team get around on his personal jet and has been a frequent guest of the Armenian president's VIP lodge during Armenia's home matches.

Perhaps even more urgently, there is a need for a new coach. When Minasyan was appointed in late 2009 at a tender age of 35, his CV included just three years as Armenia's assistant coach that came just a few years after he himself retired as a football player. The appointment most likely reflected not Minasyan's exceptional skills, but Hayrapetyan's exasperation with searching for a coach abroad. Between 2002 and 2009, Armenia saw eight head coaches come and go, almost none remained for more than a year. The timing of Minasyan's appointment coincided with the rise of Movsisyan and Mkhitaryan, the two key players that made Armenia's string of successes in 2010 and 2011 possible, and helped Minasyan look better than any of his predecessors, at least for a while.

Prior to appointing Minasyan, FFA did reach out to the most successful active coach of Armenian descent, the Uruguay-born Sergio Markarian. In an interview, Markarian said he declined because the offer combined his coaching of the national team with one of Armenia football clubs, presumably FC Pyunik. (Incidentally Minasyan has been coaching both through most of his national team tenure.)

After several successful spells on the club level in South America, the 68-year-old Markarian has since 2010 coached and much improved the Peruvian national team. In 2009, Markarian appeared interested in coaching Armenia. Perhaps, it is time to give him another call.

May 27, 2013

Armenian Reporter

Armenian footballers are top scorers in Ukraine, Russia championships

by Emil Sanamyan

Several leading players of the Armenian national football team have successfully concluded seasons for their clubs in Ukraine and Russia.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s season has been particularly spectacular.  With 25 goals in 29 league matches for Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk, Mkhitaryan set the new goal-scoring record in the twenty years of independent Ukrainian championships. He scored two more goals for his team in the UEFA Champions’ League and the Cup of Ukraine, for a total of 29 goals for the season.

Playing against leading European teams such as Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Juventus in the Champions’ League, the 24-year-old Mkhitaryan reportedly caught the attention of several clubs, including the illustrious but currently struggling English FC Liverpool; however, no firms offers have been made public. Mkhitaryan’s contract with FC Shakhter is until 2015 and his transfer value is estimated at over $20 million, an amount that only a limited number of clubs can afford.

After transferring mid-season from FC Krasnodar to FC Spartak Moskva, Yura Movsisyan managed to remain one of two top goal scorers in the Russian Premiere League with 13 goals in just 18 appearances for the season. Two injuries, in the fall of last year and again in the spring, kept Movsisyan out of 12 league matches. Spartak’s fourth place qualified it for the UEFA Europa League next season.

Also qualifying for Europa League was FC Kuban that came fifth in the Russian championship and where Aras Ozbiliz had been widely recognized as the best-performing player with nine goals and four assists in 22 appearances. There were reports of interest by top Russian clubs in buying Ozbiliz’s transfer, but no concrete transfer news.

Kuban’s other Armenian player Marcos Pizzelli scored five goals and made six assists in 21 appearances, but having lost a spot on the team’s main squad towards the end of the season, Pizzelli this week transferred to Movsisyan’s former team, tenth-placed FC Krasnodar. “Fans of the Armenian national team, come back!” twitted Krasnodar’s owner Sergey Galitsky after the news of the deal.

Veteran goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky has re-signed as the seventh-placed Dynamo Moskva’s back-up for another year. Berezovsky allowed seven goals in as many matches for the team, but has remained on the bench for the last ten seasons after Dynamo’s main goalkeeper recovered from an injury.

In his first Premiere League season for FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod, Artur Sarkisov scored three goals in 18 appearances, most of them as a substitute; Volga placed twelfth.

The season has been largely disappointing for Gevorg Ghazaryan and Karlen Mkrtchyan of Ukraine’s Metallurg Donetsk, which placed a respectable fifth and again qualified for the Europa League. After a good start and three goals in the season’s initial stage, Ghazaryan lost his spot on the main squad and had been unable to improve his tally. Mkrtchyan remains on Metallurg’s main squad, but played only 16 matches this season after two disqualifications and an injury.

This week, national team players began arriving in Yerevan ahead of back-to-back World Cup qualification matches: at home against Malta on June 7 and away against Denmark on June 11.

The team’s management appeared in a state of flux, as the football federation refused to accept the resignation of coach Vardan Minasyan following a debilitating home loss to the Czechs in March.

Armenian Reporter

June 21, 2013

Yura Movsisyan: Armenia will only improve with time and experience

Following an outstanding performance with two goals in 0-4 victory over Denmark on June 11, Armenia’s Yura Movsisyan responds to the Armenian Reporter‘s questions via Facebook:

Q. Have you played at that Copenhagen stadium before, while you were in the Danish league and have you scored there before?

A. Yes I have played there before with Randers FC but I didn’t get to score. But that never played a role in my thinking because every game is a new game.

Q. Is this the fastest goal of your career? And do you think it proved decisive for the outcome?

A. Yes it was definitely the fastest goal of my career and it was for sure a very decisive goal for us because it gave us an advantage in which we knew Denmark had to play more open and direct.

Q. This is the third time in two years that Armenia wins with four goals, and in each case you were the author or you assisted in the first goal. Do your goals tend to spur others on the team to action?

A. I believe that the whole team depends on the strikers to score the goals and that’s why I think it is great when I score the first goal then it takes pressure off the whole team.

Q. Despite the score, Armenia continues to give up the ball a lot and not much progress can be seen compared to two years ago. How and when could this be improved?

A. This is still a young team with young players. For many of the players each game is the biggest game in their life so for them to be nervous is very normal. This is the reason you have players with experience so when things do not go according to plan you can have them step up and help the others out. This will only improve with time and experience.

Armenian Reporter

Henrikh Mkhitaryan seals record-setting $35mln transfer to German club

Armenian Reporter July 9, 2013

by Emil Sanamyan Washington - The Armenian national football team's top goal-scorer Henrikh Mkhitaryan has transferred to Borussia Dortmund, the Champions League finalists.

Armenian Reporter

Armenia in Brazil? Not one miracle but five
by Emil Sanamyan
Published: Friday October 11, 2013

Washington - Armenia's national football team finally delivered on its home field, beating Bulgaria 2-1 in an intense match played in Yerevan on October 11 and thus maintained a slim chance of qualification for the 2014 World Cup to be played in Brazil.

Like two years ago in its Euro 2012 campaign, Armenia's qualification chances hinge on a win in its final match played away - but this time instead of Ireland it will be Italy, currently ranked fourth in the world and third in Europe. That match will be played next Tuesday, October 14 in Naples.

If that was not a steep enough mountain to conquer, Armenia would also need its Group competitors to lose points: unless Denmark doesn't draw or lose to Malta, and the Bulgarians and the Czechs don't draw among themselves, Armenia will be left out of the second spot, with Italy already guaranteed the first.

But even taking the second spot will not be enough. Of the nine second spot finishers only eight best group performers will be going into playoffs. Here Armenia's qualification would depend on both Turkey's failure to beat the Netherlands and Romania's failure to best Estonia or, alternatively, on Croatia losing to Scotland.

And then there are the playoffs, where Armenia would have to contend with teams such as Croatia (no. 10 in the world), Portugal (no. 11), Greece (no. 12), Bosnia (no. 18) or, if Armenians get really lucky, Sweden (no. 22).

So, as things stand, on its way to Brazil, Armenia will need not one but five full miracles.

Revenge in Yerevan

Armenia would not be facing such long odds had it enjoyed greater stability in play and a longer bench of quality substitutes.

The home losses to Malta (0-1) and Denmark (0-1) were particularly costly and they both came in the absence of forward Yura Movsisyan - for the first half in the Malta match and over yellow card disqualification vs. Denmark. When Movsisyan played Armenia dominated Denmark 0-4 in an away match last June and snatched a last-minute 1-2 victory from the Czechs last September.

But the first sign of a troubled campaign came already a year ago after the 0-1 away loss to Bulgaria. In that match Armenia also lost two players to red cards and one to a long-term injury in what Armenians universally considered a "dirty" performance by the hosts bent on stifling Armenia's offensive prowess by all means possible. The pitch antiques came after an unusual performance at the airport, where the Armenian team was met by a scantily clad model handing out candy.

When it came time for the Bulgarian team to arrive in Yerevan, it was met at the airport by angry taunts from Armenian fans. At the stadium, a huge banner unfurled by fans announced that "Justice will be restored in Yerevan." To make sure prophesy would hit home, the banner carried a likeness of the late celebrity Bulgarian fortune teller Baba Vanga. The trick appears to have worked.

Just before the half, a fine play by Aras Ozbilis got one of the Bulgarian players red-carded and the Istanbul-born midfielder then beautifully converted a free kick. Man down, Bulgaria equalized from a free kick it took at one-hour mark, but then lost a second player to another red card some minutes later. On 87th minute Henrikh Mkhitaryan's pass found Movsisyan, who beat Bulgarian defense and threw Armenia fans into wild jubilation.

Interviews with Yura Movsisyan (2010-11)

Here is a look back on how Yura changed the fortunes of Armenian national football team, when he joined it in 2010, the anticipated run-up to the match with Russia and the remarkably unlucky game in Dublin.

Ireland v Armenia played in Dublin

Armenian Reporter

Movsisyan brings goals, victory to Armenia football

by Emil Sanamyan

October 08, 2010

Washington - Armenia's national soccer team, now competing in the qualification round of the European Cup 2012, is generating fresh excitement by playing its best games in years thanks to a productive offensive line comprising three young and talented players: Edgar Manucharyan, Henrik Mkhitaryan and Yura Movsisyan.

The October 8 3:1 victory over Slovakia, now ranked sixteenth in the world, was the first victory of this scale for Armenians since they beat Poland 1:0 in a 2007 World Cup qualifying game.

Slovakia did well in the last World Cup, where it beat defending champions Italy before losing to the Netherlands, the cup's eventual runners-up. Prior to the game with Armenia, Slovaks were undefeated in the Group B, after beating Russia and Macedonia.

Armenia began the tournament after losing to Iran 1:3 in a friendly and then to Ireland 0:1 in the first qualifier game, both played at home.

But playing away in Macedonia on September 7, Armenia's three forwards exhibited great skill and effort, bringing the team close to victory were it not for a costly defensive mistake at the very end of the match resulting in a penalty award to Macedonia and 2:2 draw.

Movsisyan, 23, who played his first-ever game for Armenia against Iran last August has been at the heart of Armenia's newly re-discovered offensive prowess.

After first showcasing his talents for Kansas City and Salt Lake City teams in the MLS, Movsisyan earlier this year moved to Denmark to play and score for the local Randers side.

Movsisyan has now brought his scoring streak to Armenia, reaching the goal twice in two games and coming close to realizing at least half a dozen other opportunities. Manucharyan and Mkhitaryan scored against Macedonia and Slovakia, respectively.

In a telephone interview just before the tournament, Movsisyan told The Armenian Reporter about his decision to join the national team and hopes for the future.

AR: You have played in MLS from 2006-9 and now you are in Denmark's football league, how did the idea to join the Armenian national team come about?

YM: We have been in talks for a long time. And I considered the options of playing for U.S. or Armenia national teams. And I thought the opportunity was much bigger to play for Armenia, my home country, and to help them reach new heights. That is my biggest goal with regard to Armenia. And meeting with the president two weeks ago (last August) made me decide that it was a right decision.

AR: The fact that Robert Arzumanian from Armenia's national team also plays with you at Randers [in Denmark], did that factor in as well?

YM: Obviously, he gave me information about the national team. But it was more or less for me to decide that that is the route I wanted to go in my international career. So he did help me out with information, but at the end of the day it was my willingness to go play for Armenia.

AR: When did you begin playing football?

YM: Since I was a little kid I always dreamt of football, it was always a dream of mine to play that sport. And when I got to the U.S. [in 2000], obviously I had an opportunity to play in club environment with other kids. After getting to U.S. and having the free will to do what I wanted I chose to play football. And it ended up being the right decision.

AR: During your time at Real Salt Lake, you scored that goal getting Real into playoffs [in 2008], would you say that was the pivotal point in your football career so far, something that caught everyone's attention?

YM: Yes that was a pivotal point in the sense that people began to recognize me around U.S. and the football world. It was a good memory, something that never goes away, because people live off of memories. That was an early turning point in my career and it was good to have that at that early age. To make a big difference for a big club at the young of an age was just a big boost for my career.

AR: In terms of your hopes and expectations for Armenia's national team and the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign?

YM: We definitely have a group from which we can qualify. We have good teams, Ireland, Slovakia, Russia ahead of us, as well as Macedonia and Andorra. But we do think we have a better chance of qualifying now than in previous occasions when we had Spain, Turkey and teams like that in our group.

AR: What's going through your mind ahead of those games?

YM: I am just trying to stay healthy and I know I can help the team out if I play my game. Three of the first four games are at home and the most important thing is to win in those first few games and from there on that brings out a lot of confidence in players and that will help us have a good campaign.

AR: Of course to win games, you have to score goals. And you seem to have the sort of innate ability to score goals very frequently. What is your secret, you think?

YM: I think it just comes from focus, experience and my dedication to what I do. Since I began playing, I have had several years to learn a lot about the game. And now it is the time that I put my talent to use.

AR: On your first trip to Armenia [last August], did something surprise you in a positive or negative way?

YM: I was surprised to see how well Armenia has come along. I think before Armenia was the second- or third-world sort of country. Now Armenia has picked up. And the capital Yerevan was just beautiful with all the new buildings, all the construction underway. So everything that went on really impressed me. All in all, it was a good impression and hopefully it will continue.

Armenian Reporter

Armenians in anticipation of key football battle with Russia

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Wednesday March 23, 2011

WASHINGTON - On March 26 at 1900 hours local time (11 AM EST), eleven men representing Armenia's national squad will enter the football pitch at Yerevan's Republican Stadium to make history.

For the first time ever, Armenia has significant chances of qualifying for a European Football championship, but first Armenians will have to confront their group favorites Russia in back-to-back matches.

Over the past year, Armenia's newly recruited young talents added unprecedented dynamism to its offensive line, scoring nine goals in four qualification games, while allowing less than half that number.

Those nine goals scored by 22-year-old Henrik Mkhitaryan, 23-year-old Yura Movsisyan, 23-year-old Gevorg Ghazaryan, 24-year-old Edgar Manucharyan and 26-year-old Marcos Pizelli were the product of work ethic, creativity and skill exhibited on the level that Armenians have not seen in their football players in decades.

The five twentysomethings have also benefited from veteran players like goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky, 36, who began playing competitive soccer in his native Kapan in southern Armenia in 1992, and team captain Sargis Hovsepyan, 38, who is two years older than team coach Vardan Minasyan.

On March 26 Armenia squad will try their magic against a Russian team that according to FIFA, the world football organization, is 13th strongest in the world and 10th strongest in Europe. Armenia itself is currently ranked 65th in the world and 34th in Europe.

Both teams come to the game after losses in "friendly" matches. Last month Armenia playing without Movsisyan lost to Georgia 1:2, while Russia lost to Iran 0:1.

Movsisyan has yet to play a full game this year, but has already contributed one goal assist and one goal for FC Krasnodoar, Russia premiere league team he joined earlier this year.

Probably the team's biggest star, Mkhitaryan is playing for Ukrainian champions Shakhter Donetsk that just ousted Italy's FC Roma in UEFA Champions' League and will next face Spain's FC Barcelona.

On March 26 Armenia's success will likely most depend on Mkhitaryan-Movsisyan coordination in getting the ball close to and into the other side's goal, so Movsisyan's time on the field is crucial.

The outcome of the two games with Russia - the one on March 26 in Yerevan and subsequent on June 4 in Russia - may prove decisive for Armenia's qualification chances.

Currently Armenia is sharing the second through fourth spots with Ireland and Slovakia with 7 points each and Russia is leading the qualification group with 9 points. The group leader qualifies automatically while chances of the team that comes second will depend on number of points they had won.

Coach Minasyan has called the following players for the March 26 game:

Goalkeepers: Roman Berezovsky (FC Khimki, Russia), Stepan Ghazaryan (FC Banants);

Defenders: Sargis Hovsepyan (FC Pyunik), Robert Arzoumanyan (FC Yagiellonia, Poland), Ararat Arakelian (FC Banants), Hrait Mkoyan (FC Mika), Hovanes Hambartsumyan (FC Banants), Artak Yedigaryan (FC Pyunik), Artur Yuspashyan (FC Pyunik), Levon Hayarapetyan (FC Lehia), Valery Aleksanyan (FC Uliss);

Midfielders: Artur Yedigarian (FC Pas, Iran), Edgar Malakyan (FC Pyunik), Henrik Mkhitaryan (FC Shakhtar, Ukraine), Karlen Mkrtchyan (FC Pyunik), Artak Daschyan (FC Banants), Levon Pachadjyan (FC Sanat Naft, Iran);

Forwards: Gevorg Ghazaryan (FC Pyunik), Edgar Manucharyan (FC Pyunik), Marcos Pizelli (FC Pyunik), Yura Movsisyan (FC Krasnodar, Russia), Rober Zebelian (Dinamo-Minsk, Belarus).

Armenian Reporter

October 11, 2011

Dream Dashed in Dublin

By Emil Sanamyan

Armenia missed an unprecedented opportunity to qualify for the Euro 2012 championship after losing 1:2 to Republic of Ireland in the October 11 match that was watched with trepidation and later also disbelief and disappointment by Armenians and others around the world.

A clearly unjustified call by a referee red-carding Armenia’s veteran goalkeeper on 26th minute meant that Armenia was left to play most of the match with a man down and goal tended by Arsen Petrosyan, who turned 20 two weeks ago and was making his first international appearance.

Armenia’s troubles were compounded by an own goal just before the end of first half and another at one hour mark. But Armenia players went down fighting, shortening Ireland’s lead three minutes later and staying on attack for remainder of the match.

“Rough justice” as Ireland “compensated” at Armenia’s expense

The two teams played a largely even game the first 25 minutes, with Armenia handling the ball better but Ireland first testing Armenia with Kevin Doyle strike handled with relative ease by Roman Berezovsky; initial efforts by Henrik Mkhitaryan and Yura Movsisyan were off but as in previous games Armenia was setting into a comfortable play while building up for an inevitable offensive on Ireland goal.

More than 50,000 capacity Dublin stadium was only half full and several hundred Armenian supporters were frequently audible with their chants of “Hayer!” and “Hayastan Hup Tur!”

But on 26th minute Armenia was wounded in its most vulnerable spot – the goalkeeper. With Ireland’s Simon Cox charging forward on counterattack, but followed closely by two Armenian defenders, Berezovsky sought to ascertain the charge would be neutralized by leaving his box and stopping the ball with his chest (seconds after Cox himself used his hand to try control the ball as video replay showed).

But Spanish referee interpreted the play against Armenia (unlike NFL, video replays are not consulted by referees in European football), showing Berezovsky a red card and giving Ireland a leg up for the rest of the match.

Hot off the showdown Armenia’s captain Sarkis Hovsepyan told ArmSport.am that he thought the call was an intentional effort to compensate Ireland for the injustice it suffered in its match with France in 2010 World Cup qualification play-off. In that match the referees missed a hand ball by a French player shortly before France scored in added time.Ireland’s football federation at the time formally appealed for the match to be re-played, but UEFA – the European Football Federation – disagreed.

After the Armenia match Irish players and commentators readily admitted that the call was unjustified and that Cox himself handled the ball, but Ireland is unlikely to agree to a replay now.

Movsisyan said the referee’s call was an “embarrassing mistake” and Coach Vartan Minasyan stayed true to his style of not commenting on referee performance. One Irish newspaper called it “rough justice” for Ireland’s grievance against France.

Odds compounded with own goal

Without Berezovsky and man down Armenia nevertheless dominated the remainder of the first half, at one stretch of the game enjoying 71 percent ball possession. But few real threats were posed to Ireland goal and own mistakes eventually made the match unwinnable for Armenia.

Two minutes before the break, Armenia’s defender Valery Aleksanyan sent Ireland’s cross into his own net. But both before and after this devastating mistake Aleksanyan played the match with diligence doing well to repeatedly stop Irish advances.

A minute later Spanish referee showed no compassion for Armenia’s replacement goalkeeper showing Petrosyan a yellow card after he slipped across the box line while handling the ball.

Second half began with Armenia’s first genuine effort on goal, when Movsisyan strike was saved by Shay Given on 46th minute.

The Irish took over the initiative in subsequent quarter of an hour. Starting on 53rd minute Armenia began refreshing its offensive line when Edgar Manucharyan came in for Marcos Pizeelli.

But Armenia was visibly nervous losing the ball on more than a dozen occasions through this stretch culminating in Richard Dunne’s goal from Aiden McGeady’s cross on 60th minute.

(Ironically, just ten days earlier this author watched live as Dunne himself scored an own goal against Given in an English Premier League match for Aston Villa where both play. But this time all irony was at Armenia’s expense.)

Just two minutes later, however, Armenia shortened Ireland’s lead with Mkhitaryan’s strike from twenty meters out. The goal was a twin of Mkhitaryan’s strike against Slovakia in early September and was the first allowed by Ireland since March.

With Artur Sarkisov coming in for Gevorg Ghazaryan, Armenia pressed on but Movsisyan’s and Karlen Mkrtchyan’s efforts went wide and Manucharyan’s header just high.

Towards the end of the half referee seemingly warmed up to Armenia. Doyle was sent off after a second yellow on 81st minute and referee did not appoint a penalty shot against Armenia after an apparent fault by Petrosyan on 83rd minute.

But that proved little help for visibly tired Armenia which mounted just a few attacks in the final few minutes of the match: Given caught the ball after Hovsepyan’s cross and deflected Manucharyan’s strike minutes later.

One dream dashed, will another flourish?

Just over a year ago, only diehard Armenia football fans could have dreamed of the heights since reached by the national football. Since then Armenia scaled up into the Top 50 of world football, for the first time in its history, amazing Armenians and football critics around the world.

Armenia however was not the only success story in this qualification campaign. Both Estonia and Montenegro (each has a population of less than one million people) have made it into playoffs and may yet reach Euro 2012.

With all the progress clearly achieved, and all that has and will be said about referee’s role, the Ireland match also showed Armenia’s weaknesses.

Ultimately it was up to Armenia team to win the match despite the odds presented and it fell short due to own mistakes, lack of resources and steam.

The most glaring hole is one for replacement goalkeeper. Berezovsky now 37 will be 40 by the time of the next major championship, the World Cup. His replacement is both long overdue in coming and has very little time to mature.

Armenia’s defensive play has also much approved with addition of Karlen Mrktchian and Hrair Mkoyan, but defense’s overall performance is yet to catch up with that of the offensive line.

Good news should continue on the offense with the recent addition of Aras Ozbilis, the Turkey-born attacking midfielder who plays for the Dutch champions Ajax.

Already with Movsisyan, Mkhitaryan, Pizzelli and Ghazaryan – and Sarkisov and Manucharyan as subs – Armenia managed 22 goals in ten qualification matches. Only the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Spain scored more.

All these players are in the early to mid-20s and will be around to play again. The new generation – the under 21 team – is doing well among its peers providing more reasons for optimism.

Less than a year from now Armenia will begin the qualification campaign for the 2014 World Cup that will be hosted by Brazil. In that campaign Armenia will be competing against Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Malta.

Not the easiest group to qualify from but Armenia will certainly be in contention.

December 11, 2011

Armenian Reporter

Yura Movsisyan: to be the best you must expect the best

After four goals and five assists in nine matches for Armenia in Euro2012 qualification as well as eight goals and three assists for FC Krasnodar club in Russian Premiere League, 24-year-old Yura Movsisyan has emerged as one of the best Armenian athletes anywhere and also an increasingly well-known name in European football.

Movsisyan answered questions, including those submitted by readers via e-mail and Facebook, that The Armenian Reporter’s Emil Sanamyan asked him in a phone interview on December 9 while he was relaxing back in Pasadena.

Just a normal guy who loves Starbucks; khash – not so much

AR: Hello Yura! Now that you have a few days off, how do you begin your day?

YM: First of all, I go and get Starbucks, this is what I miss a lot [in Krasnodar and Yerevan], I have to have my Starbucks. Then it depends on what we, my family need to do, what my parents need, seeing different friends, etc.

AR: So you don’t get the star treatment and have people run errands for you?

YM: No, not at all. I am a normal man and there is nothing special about me.

AR: Any food preferences in LA for you?

YM: When I am back here I just like to eat what I miss in Russia; there are no specific preferences, but I just like to eat a lot when I am back home, and I eat a lot more than I normally do. I just need to get that need out of the way, with all the food that I miss.

AR: Any khash for you during this winter?

YM: I am not a big khash eater, but I eat everything else.

AR: And I guess no alcohol or smoking?

YM: No, not at all.

AR: When people see you arrive to a stadium and you most and other players have earphones on. What sort of music do you make sure to take with you?

YM: I listen to everything, Armenian and anything that has a good beat, anything that keeps me calm. I like a lot of hip hop, European songs.

Respect for other people is key

AR: Your son is now about two years old, how much time do you get to spend with your family?

YM: It is a bit difficult to spend a lot of time with them, because I am always traveling and I am always playing, that is the difficult part. But I try to spend as much time as possible, when I get a little bit of time with them. It is very important to me be home, to see my son.

AR: As a father what do you want to do for your son? What do you want to make sure that he has and learns from you?

YM: First and foremost, I want to make sure he has everything he needs to become a normal person. Another thing, and this was very important for me when I grew up, is to have respect for other people. He is a little kid now, but it needs to start early, I don’t want him to grow up an annoying kid.

AR: Who would you say have been the biggest influences on your life?

YM: My parents and my father especially, as well as my brothers. Being in a new country and not having other relatives here, the family has been very important. And also in terms of playing soccer, they have helped me stay disciplined.

AR: You are very intense on the field and very calm off of it. Are there two Yura’s, one the football player and another the person?

YM: There is not too much difference, but I definitely don’t want to be the same person on the field and off of it, where I just want to be a normal person.

AR: In terms of the game, what is it about football that makes so many people love it and even obsess over it?

YM: People who understand the game know how difficult it is to play and how difficult it is to be a footballer. And I think that’s the main thing that people respect, and the beauty of the game is that you get to score goals, and that’s what people especially love and pay attention to.

Making a name for Armenia and himself, Euro 2012 and beyond

AR: We last interviewed you when you just signed on with Armenia over a year ago. You must have gone to Armenia with certain expectations, have they been realized?

YM: Yes, definitely. From first moment I went to Armenia, I knew what I could do and I was confident in my abilities and everything turned out as I liked it to be. I wanted to make a name for myself and for the Armenian national team, and we did that.

AR: What have been the most memorable highlights?

YM: The beginning of the qualification campaign, in the first game with Ireland that we lost 0:1, I think we did a very good job and showed that we could play against anybody. That started it all and then we started to win games.

We scored seven goals against Slovakia, which has players -particularly defenders - playing for top teams in top leagues including English and Russian.

I think the whole qualification campaign has been the highlight, because every game was important and in every game we were able to step up as a team.

AR: Anything that hasn’t happened?

YM: We were unlucky not to qualify for Euro 2012, but that’s all.

AR: Henrikh Mkhitaryan said that Armenia was “deeply wounded” by the way the last game with Ireland went on, the refereeing etc. Is this how you feel as well?

YM: Yeah, definitely, it is hard to go through something like this as a young team, but it is a learning experience and I hope the guys learn, and we come out strongly in the next qualification.

AR: Have you had a chance to meet Aras Ozbilis who was the latest addition to Armenia team?

YM: Yes, I’ve met him and I think he is a great guy and will help out our national team a lot. He is very excited to play. It is great to have him on the team.

AR: Do you feel any weight of responsibility now that expectations from not just football fans but pretty much all Armenians are so high from the team going forward?

YM: People have the right to have their expectations and it is pretty normal to have those expectations, because if you want to be the best you also have to expect the best.

AR: People want to know how to get a jersey with your name on it and have footballs, posters or photos signed by you?

YM: I know that next year Adidas will be making our national team jerseys and I think those should become available through www.adidas.com. (Ed.: The current maker of national team jerseys Hummel does not sell them at http://www.hummel.dk and other distributors either do not sell named jerseys or have run out.)

For now I have been bringing a few jerseys from Armenia for friends here in LA. For other stuff, people can contact me via Facebook.

Moving up the club ladder in Russia and, perhaps, England

AR: How has been your Russia experience, getting used to Krasnodar?

YM: Obviously, it has been difficult going from LA to Krasnodar. But for me the city is secondary to playing soccer and that is what I do.

AR: There is a large community in that area and Krasnodar itself; have you met local Armenians?

YM: Yes, there is a big number of Armenians there and I definitely met quite a few of them, and they make themselves heard.

AR: Krasnodar has two premier league teams, your Krasnodar is owned by a businessman of Armenian descent Sergey Galitsky and the other is Kuban which is sponsored by Oleg Mkrtchyan, who also sponsors Armenia’s national team. How is that dynamic working out?

YM: The rivalry is there. We had two derby matches, we won one and they won one, so rivalry is just getting bigger.

AR: There have been persistent reports that the top Russian teams, Zenit-St. Petersburg and CSKA-Moscow, are interested in recruiting you. And Yerevan magazine just reported that there may also be interest from English Premiere League. What can you say about that?

YM: Well that is of course interesting, but I really don’t want to comment on any of the teams or any of the leaks because I think that the interest is there and people who need to be working on it are working on it.

AR: Any official transfer news to expect soon?

YM: I don’t know because you never know what teams are thinking.

AR: Do you still follow MLS and your former teams? Real Salt Lake in particular just reached the semi-finals, did you see any of those games?

YM: Yes, definitely, I’ve seen the games and I stay on top of their matches.

AR: Any regrets about not staying put and getting selected for U.S. national team?

YM: No, not all, no regrets.

AR: The soccer camp at Pasadena High School (on December 10), how did that idea come about?

YM: I have done this sort of thing before and I’d like to do these camps on an annual basis, probably every December to give back to the kids. We get a lot of requests from fans, via Facebook, etc. to get together. And it is very important to connect with local kids, to share my knowledge and this is an opportunity. 

From exile to elected office

On November 3, 2015 Anna Turcotte was elected to the Westbrook, Maine City Council, becoming the first refugee from Baku to win an elected office in the United States. This interview with her was originally published in the Armenian Reporter on September 28, 2012.

Baku Armenian tells the story of exile
by Emil Sanamyan 

Anna Astvatsaturian at ICC in The Hague
where she clerked after law school.
Courtesy image

"Nowhere, a story of exile" by Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte edited by Tatoul Sonentz-Papazian was published this year by HyBooksOnline.com. (The book is available via Amazon and other booksellers.) In an e-mail interview, the Armenian Reporter discussed this so far unique work written in English that tells a gripping personal account of a young Anya whose family - along with more than 200,000 other Armenians - was displaced from Baku and struggled to adjust in crisis-riven Yerevan before settling in U.S.

Q: Prior to publishing your diary, have you seen anything similar by anyone from among Armenians of Baku? Why do you think there is such shortage of eyewitness material on this subject?

A: I understood from my editor and the publisher that there wasn't anything similar out there that would paint the plight of Armenians from Azerbaijan in such a personal and intimate way that it touches a reader. That is the major reason I wanted to go ahead with the publication.

From personal observation, I believe the reason there is such a shortage of eyewitness material is because survival, along with a desperate need to adapt to our respective new homes, whether it is U.S., Russia, Armenia, was the number one priority for the refugees.

The lack of media coverage of the conflict and lack of camaraderie and support by the Armenians of Armenia are also important reasons. This important historic information was not sought out and captured, and the Armenians of Baku, Sumgait and Kirovabad were too traumatized to revisit it themselves. They are still traumatized. They don't talk about it at dinner tables. They don't tell their children about it. But it is always there on their minds because they haven't had an opportunity to heal.

Q: How would you describe the Baku Armenian experience? And what are the Armenians of Baku - were they a community, are they still? 

A: Although as a child I grew up pretty oblivious to these concerns prior to 1988, my father, Norik Astvatsaturov, has childhood memories of violence committed against the Armenians in the Azerbaijani countryside and on the trains to Armenia and Artsakh as early as 1950s.

There was always a sense of "your place" - Azeris had the managing or superior jobs, Armenians had the subordinate roles. Baku was tolerant and international, but yet it wasn't; in a sense that people were aware of each others' ethnic backgrounds and it dictated a lot of things in their everyday lives.

That said, I think the few decades before the atrocities of the 1980s Baku Armenians lived happy, fulfilling lives in a beautiful city by the sea. There was a place of belonging, a community, weddings, food, dancing. This peaceful life is what made the events of 1988-1990 so
shocking. People kept repeating that it couldn't be happening here and now.

I believe Baku Armenians are a unique group of Armenians. We seek each other out. We know and feel each other. We adapt anywhere we go and succeed at pretty much anything we set our minds to, because we grew up living with a constant expectation that you work a little harder, to prove yourself a little more because in the end, you are Armenian or a Bakvetsi, or a refugee. We survived and endured so much, together and alone.

Absolutely, I think that the Baku Armenian community still exists all over the world wherever we are located, powered by the memories of the happy past and silently by the unspoken horrors many witnessed. 

Q: Following their displacement, most Baku Armenians did not wish to or were unable to settle in Armenia. Should anyone be blamed for this?

A: I don't think that you can blame anyone. It was a difficult transition in Armenia's history and one cannot blame one person or one group of people.

I know from personal experience that Baku Armenians that came to Armenia had a hard time adjusting, both socially and economically. Many ended up relocating to Russia hoping for a better future for their children, whether due to a lack of jobs or intolerance by Armenia's Armenians. I believe it's a combination of those two things.

When we fled to Armenia in 1989 most of the friends and family we knew also came from Baku to Armenia, but some went to Russia. The next three years in Armenia were so very hard, on all Armenians. I believe the stress of the economic hardships fueled by the war and the blockade caused many Armenians in Armenia to throw blame around. The native Armenians began to associate the changes that came with the war with Azerbaijan and the collapsing of the Soviet Union with the flood of refugees. I believe in many ways it was an unfortunate but natural reaction immediately as it was happening. As I hear of intolerance toward Baku Armenians currently, however, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Baku Armenians were blamed for the dire situation, or were misunderstood in their love for their home city that no longer existed for them. The trauma they experienced by the atrocities in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku, compounded by the trauma of verbal abuse and a sense of being second rate citizens in their ancestral homeland, caused many to leave and never look back.

Q: Your book touches on the deeply sensitive subjects for any person: sexual molestation and also domestic violence against children. Why did you decide to include those instances in your book? Was it a difficult decision for you?

A: When I wrote the book, the intended audience was always going to be my children and their families. The intimacy of the information shared was never too personal to deter me from sharing our entire experience. I didn't censor myself, but instead spilled out all of my memories as record of the events that occurred. I thought it was important for them to know, fully, the extent of my personal struggles, and our sacrifices made to establish a happy life for them in the United States.

Once the decision was made to publish the writings, I painfully processed these sensitive subjects over and over again in my mind. It was extremely difficult for me but I went ahead with it. 

My family supported me in the decision to keep these instances in the book to paint the picture of the various abuses suffered at the hands of the Azeris, even as children, and also to demonstrate how the experience shaped the refugees themselves and the type of coping mechanisms some adapted to remain sane.

Q: What are your thoughts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict today? Will it be over in our lifetime?

A: Although Artsakh today is independent, free and developing steadily with each year, the conflict, I believe, is at its worst. There is a whole generation of children in Azerbaijan that is brought up hating Armenians as a people. The endless propaganda by the Azeri government
shapes their intolerant thoughts.

Even the Azeri friends I grew up with, with whom I recently connected in preparation for the publication of the book, remember me in one way, but now view me as an Armenian in a completely warped way. I find that fascinating. I am their happy childhood memory, and in the same breath, a deadly enemy.

The rhetoric of continued war is alarming, especially this year. I believe the recent events shape the way the Artsakh issue will be resolved - if a sleeping officer is brutally murdered by his classmate on foreign land and is lauded as a hero and released, how do you think Azeris will treat Armenian civilians of Artsakh if Artsakh is ever under Azeri rule?

I do hope for a peaceful resolution of this conflict. I do believe a resolution (peaceful or not) is possible to occur in our lifetime. What sacrifices and hurdles it will take to get there, is unfathomable to me.

About Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte: Born in 1978 in Baku, she was displaced with her family in 1989 and lived in Armenia for the next two years before receiving refugee asylum in the United States. Anna graduated from the University of North Dakota and the University of Maine School of Law. She lives in Portland, Maine with her husband and two children. 

Excerpt from "Nowhere: a Story of Exile"
by Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte

Anya with her dad Norik in Baku. Courtesy image.

What follows is an excerpt from "Nowhere, a story of exile":

"The demonstrations that started at the end of the summer were not the last ones. We saw them more frequently, thousands of people rushing and screaming. Our street was the main street that led to Lenin Square, where the government buildings were located. The
demonstrators were Azeri who wanted us out of the country and demanded that Armenia stops claiming Nagorno-Karabakh as historically Armenian land.

The demonstrations worsened with time. They grew bigger and louder. The beginning of the school year of 1988-1989 was confusing for
everyone. I was a fifth grader now but I was not thinking about school even though I functioned, automatically memorizing poems, formulas and English vocabulary.

Things were uncertain and unpredictable and that fall Mama didn't let me go out of the patio to climb the olive trees on our street. The olives were for pickling and we gathered them together with Vilya yearly. Mama reasoned that it would attract too much attention to the building and to me. The school didn't send the students on olive picking field trips either. The olive trees on the street were filled with ripe olives which we could only look at through our window and not touch.

Through the social webs and contacts information leaked into the households of Armenians that in November there were pogroms and atrocities committed against Armenian citizens in Kirovabad, a distant city, second largest in Azerbaijan. Elderly, men and women, killed, raped, maimed. We covered our mouths in disbelief. Nothing was reported on the news. As the day went by Mama brushed it off as a non-story, something that would never happen in Baku, which was filled with intellectuals and internationalists.

On a certain December 1988 afternoon, everyone was at home when I returned from school. The events that transpired erased all recollection of having been to school that day. That day's demonstrations were the worst we had ever seen.

We are gathered in my Grandma's apartment, all of us, Mama, Papa, Misha, Grandma and me. We have locked the door from inside, and sit, waiting, with all windows closed and shuttered. We turn the lights off. Papa tells Misha and me to speak in whispers. Papa takes all of the knives out of the kitchen drawers and sets them in a pile in front of him at the dining room table, prepared for the worst. He keeps saying, repeatedly, "If they break in, I will take a few of them with me to the other world."

We are afraid to talk aloud. We whisper if we have to, but rarely. Mama is holding Misha on her lap on the sofa, her face buried in his blonde curls and Grandma is sitting on the chair looking at her wrinkly hands which rest on her old-fashioned cotton dress. Through the unfortunate cracks in the blinds, we see people rushing down the street with green flags. There are so many of them their shoulders brush against the walls of our building. We see a few black flags, which mean "death" and "vengeance," hand-made in a hurry. The demonstrators run and rush against and past our building. There is shouting, chanting and screaming in Azeri.

As I sneak a look in the crack in the shutters, I see a man in a black coat. He is in front of the crowd, walking backward, shouting something. From that distance, we cannot understand what he is saying, though his voice is loud and he addresses the crowd in Azeri. It seems that he is trying to stop them. But they only yell louder and rush forth, almost as if to tell the man in black that they will not listen to him. Sure enough, they shove him aside and a few demonstrators enter the patio of the apartment building right next to ours. They yell for Armenians to come out. This building is well-known for housing Armenians who have lived there for several generations. A few of them were mixed families - Azeri, Russian and Armenian. Papa shoves me away from the window.

The demonstrators yell and scream. When no one lets them in, they start hurling rocks at the windows. We hear crashing and muffled commotion and yelling. Suddenly they appear back on the street and rush ahead toward the Lenin Square, looking for excitement elsewhere. They appear to miss our building. It is too close to the railroad and is out of sight. The gates to the patio are shielded by bushes and trees. Later, we learn that Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians are trying to secede from Azerbaijan and rejoin Armenia."