Friendly against Uzbekistan, Bushi: Let's build a strong team, only for victory

2026-03-20 17:23:00, Sport CNA

Friendly against Uzbekistan, Bushi: Let's build a strong team, only for

Albania U-21 has officially announced a friendly match against Uzbekistan. The match will be played on March 30, at 2:30 PM, in Antalya, Turkey, and is an important test for the Rossoneri in building a more competitive team for the future.

In his statement, coach Alban Bushi focuses on the importance of this match and the next training camp, considering it a valuable step in consolidating the group and increasing the quality of the team. The red and black coach also comments on the new approaches, the competition in the team and the current situation of the players on the eve of this training camp.

Friendlies in the framework of preparations for Euro U-21 2027 – They are important matches. They become important because we have a long time without gathering. I am very happy that we will gather now, we will be together to train, play, for our objectives and goals. The match with Uzbekistan is a good match. We were prepared for two other matches, against America and Japan. But due to the problems in the Middle East, the friendlies were canceled and we chose Uzbekistan as the opponent.

How well do you know Uzbekistan as an opponent – ??It is an opponent that should be respected and appreciated because it did well in the Asian Cup. We need to prepare, we have seen it recently. It is a team that plays beautiful football, let it play football. It is an interesting team. I think we will be the favorites in this match. The team is in good shape, the players have more minutes than before. We have also received some new players, whom I want to thank for choosing Albania, such as Gojani, Asani and Dibrani. Ergis Arifi of Teuta and Olsi Myrta of Laç are also coming for the first time. They need to show themselves, they have done well in the Albanian championship. But U-21 is another level and we will see if they will be able to cope and be part of this team in the future.

What can new players bring to the U-21? – We have taken two midfielders like Dibrani and Asani, who are very active and aggressive. Our strategy is to fight a lot, to be very active and to have a lot of aggression. And these are players who meet these conditions. I think they will do a lot of work for us for the game we play. I have faith in them. But the other players we currently have are also players who have done well in recent months and I think there will be a lot of competition in the group. This is what we are looking for. To have as much competition as possible, a solid team so that we have a team as strong as possible in the U-21 finals.

The condition of the players and how the situation is before the training camp – Most of the players have minutes. I can't wait to meet them and talk to them. We have some players who are starters, but they don't have many minutes on their feet. This is not good for us or for them and we need to find a good alternative so that they have minutes in 2027. Better in teams with few names and have minutes than in teams with big names and not have minutes. I have Basha as an example, who is a very important player for us, who plays with Catanzaro in Serie B, but has not received minutes. We need to help them be ready for the 2027 European Championship.

Consolidation of the group for Euro 2027 – We had some players in mind, who could have been. But always looking for players, football is such that it develops every day. And players develop. You can have 1-2 safe players, but two better ones can come. And this is the national team. The players must be in top form to represent Albania. They must give it their all to participate in the European Championship. We have 6-7 strikers, 4 of whom will come to the European Championship. For this reason, they must fight hard, have minutes on their feet, score as many goals as possible and be active. I hope we make a solid team. I believe a lot because we have played very well in the last few matches, we have created our game. Everyone knows what they need to do. I hope that the new players will also integrate into our game as quickly as possible.

The objective for the match against Uzbekistan – The objective is and has always been victory. Intensity and aggressiveness on the field to give the maximum on the field. When you give the maximum, the result is not a problem. We will do this against Uzbekistan as well. Everyone knows what they have to do.