The first week of Dynamo Moscow's winter training camp is behind us. We have collected for you in one material the most important and interesting things that have happened during this time.
On Monday, January 12, the Dynamo players gathered in Moscow and successfully completed a comprehensive medical examination. A detailed video about this, featuring our players' accounts of their vacation, can be viewed at this link.
On Tuesday, the team departed for Dubai, where they will spend all three training camps this time. Six players from Dynamo-2 traveled with the main team: defenders Maxim Balakhanov, Kirill Isaev, and Georgy Tikhomirov; midfielders Timofey Marinkin and Gleb Miroshnichenko; and forward Alexander Khubulov.
Balakhanov celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday, and Luis Chavez turned 30 on the same day. The birthday boys were congratulated with the traditional corridor at the morning training session. For now, the Mexican midfielder, who is recovering from a torn cruciate ligament, is training individually, as is Dmitry Alexandrov. Artur Gomez, however, has already been transferred to the main group.
Ulvi Babaev arrived at the training camp a little later than the others, having missed one day of training, but for good reason: on Wednesday, he signed a new contract with his hometown club until the summer of 2029, with the option to extend for another season. "I'm very grateful to the club and the fans. I saw their support. I'm also grateful to Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin for his faith in me. I feel the club's trust and will continue to strive to contribute to the team," the forward noted.
Before the start of the training camp, Rolan Gusev gave a short speech: "It's clear that we're in for some challenging, specific work, but it's necessary. We'll lay the foundation, because without this work, we won't get anywhere." The head coach spoke in more detail about the training camp program and the new coaching staff in an interview with Dynamo TV.
His new assistants, Yuri Zhirkov and Roman Sharonov, have been actively involved in the work and are helping Rolan Aleksandrovich conduct his first training camp as head coach of the white-and-blues. Roman Sergeevich communicates frequently with the players and shares his wealth of experience: "Sometimes we talk about football, sometimes just about life. I was a player myself and understand what it means to communicate with a coach, so I try to generally help with my experience and knowledge." Also, as a big fan of tattoos, he has already appreciated the new tiger tattoo that now covers Juan Cáceres's entire back.
Naturally, new fitness coach Agustín Quihillaborda will also play a major role at the training camp: "What characterizes me is my passion for my work. I enjoy adapting to the head coach's style of work and the team's style of play. I think we're in for a very productive training camp, which will be longer than any I've coached before. But this will help us distribute the workload more evenly across all camps, rather than overloading the players on certain days."
Another Argentine, Juan Francisco Gómez, has joined Dynamo as assistant fitness coach for this winter's training camp. He worked with Kiiljaborda at Estudiantes. There, he also worked with Diego Simeone, whom he later assisted at San Lorenzo, Racing, and Atlético Madrid, where he won the Spanish championship. For the past year and a half, the 47-year-old coach has worked at the Danish Vejle and the Bulgarian Beroy.
The week consisted of two training sessions a day, ending with the busiest day, which included three sessions. On Sunday morning, the boys completed several circuits of endurance stations, followed by light and medium weight training on the field during the day, and then a tactical session in the evening. The training concluded with a mini-tournament, won by the team consisting of Kirill Isaev, Roberto Fernandez, Ulvi Babaev, and Ivan Sergeev.
The second week will be dedicated to gradual preparation for the Betboom Dynamo Global Challenge, which opens on January 23 with a match between Dynamo and Leonid Slutsky's Shanghai Shenhua.