Prekazi's contract expires, but he expects to continue working at Hopes of Kosovo

It has been a month since the U21 representative of Kosovo in football ended its second qualifying cycle for the European Championship "Euro 2021". He ended the qualifying cycle with two losses. In November, Albania lost (1:0) in Pristina and 3:0 in Samsun against Turkey. With the end of this qualifying cycle was also the end of the contract of the selector Rafet Prekazi. However, before the last two games were finished, the names of several other coaches who could replace Prekaz at the head of the Kosovo U21 team began to circulate, including Shefki Kuqi. But Prekazi expects to lead the young "Dardans" for another cycle.

On Wednesday, Prekazi decided to speak for the TIME for the first time after the publication of the news that his contract will not be extended by the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK).

"Who else appreciates me? Now it is a democracy and everyone can express their opinion, but officially I have not accepted anything. I don't know if the news about me affected the players, but not that it wasn't real, but it wasn't human either. I don't want to deal with negative things. I have not spoken even when the players from the U21 team within two years have moved to the A team. The results are the best indicator, as well as the players who came out of the U21 team on whom Kosovo will depend in the next ten years", he said. said Prekazi.

Kosovo finished the second European qualifying campaign in fifth place with nine points accumulated in a group with England and Austria. Kosovo also had Albania, Turkey and Andorra in the group. Prekazi says that he is ready to continue his project for the formation of a strong team for the new qualifying cycle.

"It doesn't depend on me, but I had faith. When I started with Kosovo, I couldn't field eight players and I played with the world champion, Germany. If I didn't have faith, I wouldn't have taken it even then and I wouldn't have accepted this post. For me, nothing is a problem as far as football is concerned. I have always been ready to lead Kosovo", said Prekazi.

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Prekazi insists that he has not yet been contacted by the leaders of the Football Federation of Kosovo. The contact says he missed her for better and worse.

"I have not talked with the leaders of the FFK. Before I was in contact, but these problems of the coronavirus have meant that I have had no contact, neither for better nor for worse. I haven't had any contact since the last game. I understand the cause of the problems they encountered. I have worked with honor and I am proud of what I have done, the results speak for themselves. I had information from where these rumors came from, but I don't want to enter that level and mention them", said Prekazi.

He led Kosovo U21 in the first qualifying round as well, until he excelled in a group with Germany, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Israel and Azerbaijan. It finished in fifth position, but won a full 12 points, three less than Norway, which ended the cycle in second place.

The plan that didn't work

In fact, Kosovo also started its second cycle well. In the two matches of June 2019, he achieved the same number of victories. Defeated Andorra 4:0 on the trip, while at home they triumphed over Turkey 3:1. But then suffered five straight losses. The victory after five defeats was achieved against Andorra on October 13. However, during 2020, Kosovo had a lot of difficulties in gathering players due to the situation with the coronavirus. In the last gatherings, many players were infected with the coronavirus, and many others were not released from the European clubs where they have a career due to measures from the countries where they live. Prekazi was forced to invite many players who are part of Kosovo clubs, even 18 and 19 years old. Prekazi says that he is satisfied with the commitment of the young players, but he emphasizes that they lacked experience. He is proud that many football players from Kosovo U21 have managed to be invited by the "A" representative, as well as to make a career abroad. And for some others, he says that they have taken steps forward in their career by playing for Kosovo.

"After the qualifications of the last cycle, where there were players who penetrated European clubs and the representative A, it is normal that in Kosovo U21 there is a change of generation. But, fortunately, we have stayed extremely well with this generation, where already in the first matches we have shown good results with two victories. But, unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we had to stop the matches. After that, we had to make a team because we had many cases of coronavirus, as well as many injuries", Prekazi emphasized.

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He insists that Kosovo has been damaged more than other representatives by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Coronavirus has affected everyone, but us more. However, we formed a team, we have shown good games, but we lacked the composition of the team as we started. The team fell apart in a way and we had to get new players. I am satisfied with the commitment, but the commitment differs with the quality of the game when many players are changed. This happened to us", added the coach from Mitrovica. "We started to complete ourselves somehow and these last matches came, for example against England, the first half ended without goals. But, in the second half, the lack of preparation of some players that we took from our clubs came into consideration. However, I am satisfied that many players who are part of Kosovo clubs had the opportunity to play in strong matches. In the last matches, Mirlind Daku and Lirim Kastrati left us and we did not have adequate players to replace them. But, we chose to invite all players born in 2000 and 2001 to prepare a team for the next qualifying cycle. In the last four games, there were many 18 and 19-year-old players".

Mission accomplished

In the past, Prekazi has been part of several teams in Kosovo. He reckons he's still young to retire. He believes that with the new generation he can achieve a lot. He insists that during this time of the pandemic and with the difficulties he has encountered, he has made the best possible choice.

"I said earlier, but from 2-3 plans, because we did not expect the coronavirus and I chose the best from the worst situation. I have made the selection of players for the next cycle. In the last matches, somewhere around 6-7 players were not allowed to come. We just worked to make it the best we could. It has been difficult to cope with these problems. We brought in some players, Eris Abedini went to La Liga. There are others who have had a rise precisely by playing with us", he said.

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He boasts of the achievements of the Representative and the rise of several players. He even goes further by insisting that the players who have come out of the U21 generation will be important factors in the next ten years for the "A" representative.

"I have fulfilled the mission. We did it quietly. We started well and I thought we would be good and strong, but a lot of things happened to us with the virus. Against England, only one has played here as a starter. I will not complain, I have never complained, because you have to find yourself, but since the situation was like this, I decided to collect players that for the next two years will be a wide list of players", said Prekazi.