Head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine Ruslan Rotan in an interview "TEAM1" told what he expects from his team's September matches against Slovakia in the Euro 2023 (U-21) play-offs.
Ruslan Rotan
— Ruslan Petrovych, could you describe in two words the theoretical readiness of our youth team for the decisive matches of the Euro-2023 qualifying cycle?
— In two, I think, it won’t work, but on paper, in general, everything is fine. The main thing is that we will arrive at the training camp having read positive news from the front. I never get tired of thanking the Armed Forces and being proud of them. All our young people are preoccupied with such thoughts, I know that for sure.
We studied the Slovak national team well, having watched more than 10 games with its participation. There is a lot of information, so it is important to highlight the most important. This is what we are currently doing. We are waiting for the opponent's application, but we don't think there should be any surprises there - I already have a complete dossier (video, statistics) on 18 Slovak players from the main bracket.
However, the number one task is to remember exactly our principles of play as soon as possible. We never hide that, taking into account, of course, certain stylistic and tactical features of the opponent's game, we build our football and do not adapt to anyone. It will be the same this time. Work is already underway in this direction. As the player we have just called up plays his last before coming to the international match for the club, a video will immediately appear on his phone with a reminder of our main ideas. That is, there are no problems with the theory, but it must be implemented in life.
— Are you not worried about the personnel situation?
- We have two losses - and they are very significant. This applies to goalkeeper Ruslan Nescheret and striker Vladyslav Supryaga. These are our main performers who are very useful both on and off the field. We carefully analyze the impact of each member of the team on the climate in the team, so we are very sorry when we lose important and in this sense performers.
I have already said more than once and I will say it again that I am proud to work with such wonderful and well-mannered boys, for which I am grateful, first of all, to their parents and coaches from the clubs. We have been building this team for a long time, and we have it - 100%.
— Shakhtar goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin was present in your list for Slovakia, but yesterday he was called up to the national team. Are you cool with the number one post?
- Yes, we are really worried that we will start our training without the two main goalkeepers - Nescheret and Trubin. Of course, we count on Kyril Fesyun, who has been in our team for a long time, but he has no game practice in Kolos. Two newcomers were called up - the already experienced Dmytro Matsapura and the young Yakov Kinareykin, but this will be their first visit to the national team.
Nevertheless, I don't see any reason to panic, and our goalkeeping coach Vitaliy Reva is in the same mood. In addition, we do not rule out that Trubin will still join our team - there is such a preliminary agreement with the head coach of the national team. In short, the situation is under control for now.
— In recent days, the media have intensified conversations about what is more important for Ukrainian football at the moment — the successful performance of the first national team in the League of Nations or the entry of the youth team to Euro-2023. What do you think?
— So you yourself answered this question, naming the national team first. It is certainly like that in the whole world, so its interests are much more important, and we all expect that our first team will return to the elite of the League of Nations, where it played under the leadership of Andriy Shevchenko, losing its place there not at all on the sporting principle.
The general strategy for the development of Ukrainian football is another matter. We must remember our experience of performances at the Youth Euro in 2006 and 2011 and count the players who then not only got into the national team of Ukraine, but became its leaders there. Therefore, I believe that the decision should be weighed several times.
— But the result is at a youth level — it's not the main thing. Exactly?
— The main thing is not without the development of players, without revealing their qualities that meet modern requirements. I have never pressured football players with the result - each of them can confirm this. I always emphasized that I will be responsible for every defeat, and you must be responsible, together with me, for every game.
There will be no pressure this time either. It is also redundant because the boys have come so close to their goal that there is no need to motivate them at all. But I will remind them that they dream not just to go to the Euros, but to show meaningful football there.
— That is, you did not ask Ilya Zabarny and Mykhailo Mudryk for the first team?
- Of course not. We have working communication with the national team. We were told that we can count on Anatoly Trubin, Oleksandr Syrota and Danil Sikan, but suddenly, any one of them can be taken away. One thing "suddenly" already happened - Dynamo goalkeeper Georgy Bushchan was injured.
Understand, Zabarny has long been not just a player of the main team of the national team, but its leading performer. I don't know if many football players in our history have played more than two dozen matches for the main team of the country in their 20s. Here there may be no questions at all.
Regarding Mudryk, the situation is perhaps a little different - unlike Zabarny, he went with us almost the whole way. However, now Mykhailo is demonstrating an excellent game at the highest level, so all questions can disappear here as well. Again, one must understand the strategic tasks facing Ukrainian football and the desire to get to the Olympic Games.
I would like to remind you that the final part of the Youth Euro is no longer a youth tournament, but a competition of 23-year-old professionals, mostly playing for the first teams of the leading European leagues. You can correct me, but I don't remember a time when all the leading national teams of our continent without exception got to the final of the youth championship. That's just everyone!
We played against the French and it was an experience that is sometimes difficult to get even at a higher level. You and I know the value of the players of this team, but this summer alone, more than 150 (!) million euros were paid for five of its players. These are not just price tags on Internet resources - these are real funds. So, in June, our boys played with them on equal footing, and in some places prevailed. After the performances at the Euro, they may cost the same, because not only the French will be there, but the Spanish, Germans, Italians, English and other giants.
— You invited several football players who do not have playing experience in clubs to the "youth". Risk free?
— There is no risk in football, but we are talking about guys who have been with us all the way, played in the main team. I believe that they deserved to be with the team during such matches. This also applies to many of those artists who got to the reserve list.
We will have enough time, and for that I am grateful to our clubs and the UPL, to assess the readiness of the players. We might organize sparring - our managers are currently working on it. We will see, but the team still has very good competition.
— You will have better support in Poland than in Turkey, where you played in the summer. Do you understand that?
— Of course, it makes us very happy. For guys, this is an important factor. We will be based in the town of Bielsko-Biała, where our youth team started its journey at the world championship, which it won for itself. It is 95 kilometers to Žilina, where the first playoff game will take place. So this time we will do without flights at all.
— Are you not surprised that the Slovaks decided to host us on a field with an artificial surface?
— Yes, it was a little unexpected, after all, it is only September in the yard. But we have the experience of performing on such a lawn - not so long ago we played on synthetic in the Faroe Islands.
— You will start working in Poland on September 16, but not full-time — without legionnaires. Wouldn't that be a problem?
- No, all is good. I hope that from the 19th our warehouse will be full. You know, when we started our journey, we had only two players who played abroad. Now there are seven of them. Seven so far.
— Can you say that at this stage these will be the most important matches of your coaching career?
— I don't think it's necessary to draw attention to it. They can be the most important for all of our youth football, because our national team has not played at the Euro among 23-year-olds since 2011. However, there is no need to add fuel to the fire. I can assure you that our entire team is highly motivated. And the Armed Forces serve as an example for them, which, as you can see, take not only by force, but also by reason...
Yuriy Denisenko
