Well-known Ukrainian journalist Artem Frankov spoke about the upcoming matches of the Ukrainian national team in the League of Nations - against Scotland (September 21 and 27) and Armenia (September 24).
Artem Frankov“And let’s take a closer look at the composition of the Ukrainian national team in order to understand at least approximately how much we have the right to demand victories from it.
Initially, the list of those called by Alexander Petrakov looked like this.
Goalkeepers: Georgy Bushchan (Dynamo), Dmitry Reznik (Vorskla), Andrey Lunin (Real Madrid, Spain)
Defenders: Oleksandr Karavaev, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Ilya Zabarny (all - Dynamo), Mykola Matvienko, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Valeriy Bondar, Bohdan Mykhailychenko (all - Shakhtar), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton, England), Taras Kacharaba ( "Slavia", Czech Republic).
Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mikhail Mudryk, Oleksandr Zubkov (all - Shakhtar), Sergiy Sidorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykola Shaparenko (all - Dynamo), Oleksandr Pikhalyonok (Dnepr-1), Andriy Yarmolenko (Al- Ain, United Arab Emirates), Ruslan Malinovsky (Atalanta, Italy), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal, England), Viktor Kovalenko (Spezia, Italy).
Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk (Club Brugge, Belgium), Artem Dovbik (Dnepr-1).
Reserve: Artem Besedin (Dynamo), Oleksiy Gutsulyak, Eduard Sarapiy (both Dnipro-1), Egor Nazarina (Zorya), Eduard Sobol (Bruges, Belgium), Daniil Ignatenko (Bordeaux, France) ).
Then the changes began. On September 9, Petrakov took into account that Buschan and Shaparenko dropped out due to injuries, and therefore he called Shakhtar goalkeepers Anatoly Trubin (it is strange that he was not in the first version of the list) and even Kolos Kolos Yevhen Volynets. Ignatenko moved from the reserve list to the main one. I was always interested in what this reserve means not before major tournaments - stay at home, don't go for a walk?! And then he will hang out on the beach with the girls...
On September 12, Sobol moved from the reserve to the main list. This meant that the geniuses from the FFU suddenly suspected that Oleksandr Zinchenko from Arsenal was injured in training and was not our assistant. On September 16, it became known that our legionnaire, who had not played without it, would no longer play accurately.
But on the 17th exactly the same thing was written about Sobol! Who a day later, as well as three days earlier, came on as a substitute - only now in the Belgian championship, and not in the Champions League, and not in the won match with Porto, but in the completely lost match with Standard. The only thing in common between these fights was their traveling essence, although the distances from Brugge to Porto and Liege should not be compared.
"Something is rotten in the Danish kingdom" and made us suspect something terrible: our football players, who have lost their place at the base of their clubs, intend to focus on this problem, and not fight in the dubious League of Nations...
Well, then everything was as usual: smiles, workouts, plans.
Small note:
- Yaremchuk, having arrived at Club Brugge, is still sitting securely in the reserve (I'm sure he will remember his appearance against Standard for a long time as a nightmare);
- Lunin did not leave him, the reserve, for a well-known reason, which is called "Courtois";
- Malinovsky in the key and lucky match for Atalanta against Roma came out in the 88th minute and powerfully "helped his team win a major victory";
- and only Viktor Kovalenko played for "Spezia" against "Sampdoria" in the "under" position for 71 minutes, after which he replaced (I suspect that due to the presence of a yellow card), and his team immediately scored the winning goal (2:1) .
From very good or how to watch:
- Andriy Yarmolenko started the away match against Al Jazeera - lost 1:2;
- Taras Kacharaba with his Prague "Slavia" flew into the Pilsen "Victoria" 0:3 - but, like Yarmolenko, he played the whole match;
- Vitaliy Mykolenko spent the entire match for Everton, which, thanks to a successful shot by Neil Mope, overcame West Ham, tired of Denmark - 1:0;
- Daniil Ignatenko lights up in Bordeaux, they even win quite regularly in their second division, but yellow cards are rowed through the match - a defensive midfielder!
We add to this that Kryvtsov and Mikhailichenko are Shakhtar's reserve players for at least the Champions League, the reserve status and the general depressed state of mind of Dynamo players Karavaev and Tymchik...
What do we get? No discouragement! A predictable bet on the players of Shakhtar and Dnipro-1, as well as no abandonment of priorities, only first place in the group! To do this, you need to take 4 points with Scotland (which we are now ahead by a point - 7 against 6) - this will be a guarantee. Two points - there are options for Ireland, which now has 4 points. For Armenia, I think, all options are purely theoretical...,” Frankov wrote in his telegram channel.
