Caucasian, captain of Turkey: Spoiler | Q. Your team is part of group A, alongside the Germanic Countries, Spain, Russia & Ukraine and Benelux. What comment would you give about this group and the Turkish team in it ?
Caucasian: The two groups are balanced. In group A we may not be favourites, but we will try out best. We know it's not gonna be easy, because the Germanic Countries, Spain and Benelux are very strong, but we will try and put up a fight against them for sure...
Q. The Turkish community is quite important and massive in the Native part of M&B, but not so much in NW. Was gathering a turkish team a hard task for you and your vice-captain ?
Caucasian: It was a pretty hard thing to do actually, because there are not many turkish cavalry players in NW, a lot of my players are from infantry. We had to train them, how to ride, how to fight on horse etc. They already have experience in infantry, but not cavalry, so the job was definitely not an easy one. But at the end, even if it was hard we managed to gather 21 members in the team, and we'll try to get the best out of them in our matches.
Q. You've played the opening match of the CNC, and not an easy one since it was against the Germanic Countries. How did you prepare for it and what did you tell your men before the match ?
Caucasian: We've had some friendly matches against other nations and regiments. I also told my men to spend a lot of time on CavGF. During the match I told them to stay calm and focused, not to panick and make mistakes. On the pitch I was trying to give them tips, to help them as best I could, while fighting.
Q. The first round against Germany was really close and you guys nearly won it. The rest of the match was much harder. How did you and the team feel throughout the whole match and at the end of it ?
Caucasian: The first round was a close one for sure, but losing it made it hard for us. However I told my men to remain calm and keep playing, and that's what we did, we refused to give up. Germany was better than us and it was no surprise that they won, we know that.
Q. Is there any match that you are particularly looking forward to playing and winning ?
Caucasian: We are looking forward to the match against Russia & Ukraine. We feel that we can beat them, and we will do everything we can to achieve that. |
Tardet, captain of France:
Spoiler Q. France has won last year's CNC, and only has lost one match since 2014. Those stats clearly give you the role of favourite to the champions title this year. How do you approach this year's edition with that pressure on the team ?
Tardet: We are rather confident in ourselves. The stats that you gave help us to be that way. We know we have a good team, although I find it less strong than the team we had last year. However, we're going to bear our favourite role, and we won't take any extra pressure because of it. We won't let ourselves become arrogant and cocky, we know there will be some really complicated matches to play, and some easier ones. But we know we will play every match 100% in order to try and defend our title.
Q. You have started this competition by fighting Poland. With the years, this match has become kind of a "classic" in the CNC. Poland beat France in the 2014 final, then France ruled Poland out of the groups stage in 2015. How did you prepare and what was your mentality for that match ?
Tardet: We are aware that Poland is one of the best teams in the competition, and that we would be under pressure fighting them, since it was our first match. But we also knew that we would be released of that pressure after the match, which is a good thing. We wanted to have a friendly match against the Spanish team, a heavy cavalry one, to train before the match, but sadly enough it could not happen.
Q. The match finally ended on an 8-2 victory for France. How do you feel about that result ?
Tardet: The Polish team is very strong, no doubt about that. They played with a tactic that they used in 2014 and which made us lose the final. But that was two years ago, and nowadays we know how this tactic works. The map, unlike 2014, doesn't help them here, and that's what helped us to counter their tactic and win. We knew the Poles were dangerous because they are skilled players, but their strategy itself was not so big of a threat anymore. At the end of the day each round was really close and tense, but we managed to find a way to win nearly everytime.
Q. France is part of group B, alongside the United Kingdom, Italy, the Czech Republic & Slovakia, and Poland. What comment can you give about this group ?
Tardet: It is a tough group and we are aware of it. There are some very good teams in it, the United Kingdom and Poland. The match against the UK will be a huge challenge but I think we are ready. Italy went heavy cavalry, this might be dangerous for us because it's new, but I believe that after the match against Poland, we will be up for the task. The Czechs and Slovakians are new to the competition, I really don't know much about their cavalry community, so we will see. As I said, we will fight every match intensly.
Q. What is your philosophy as a team Captain ?
Tardet: I give the same importance to everyone in the team, I don't have any preference. I have a group of veteran players, which I work with to be efficient. France has a good team, I take all the things we've done in the past into account to try and do my best. In the team I mostly do organization work, I'm not always the one managing the team on the field, but I'm the one who decides who spawns in and who doesn't. Once this is done, the team is independent enough to know what it has to do. | |
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