Today, the youth national team of Ukraine will play the first match in the playoff round of the Euro-2023 U-21 selection. On the road, Ruslan Rotan's wards will meet the team of Slovakia. About the strength of the "blue-yellow" opponent and, in general, about the balance of forces in this pair, Team 1 asked Ruslan Lubarskyi to tell, who played in Slovakia for more than 10 years, and now works as a coach in this country.
— Ruslan, withfishingTsk football is now on subyomi?
— I would not say so categorically. Clubs in Europe don't shine without achieving big results. And the national team, not being in the strongest group of the 2022 World Cup, could not even make it to the playoffs. And in the League of Nations, in the third strongest division, the Slovakian team lost the fight for entry to the League V of Kazakhstan. Therefore, not everything is so smooth. As for the youth national team, recently the team, in principle, has been showing good results.
— What are your expectations for the upcoming match between Slovakia and Ukraine?
— In my opinion, both teams show approximately the same style of play. It is difficult to say who in this pair is the favorite before this meeting, as well as in the confrontation in general.
— Follow up Ukrainianm footballohm?
— I don't miss the results. I have Ukrainian channels in Slovakia, but they mainly show news there now. If I watch matches, it's on the Internet. By the way, I watched several matches of "Dynamo", which seems to have fallen into a hole.
— Kwhat and what should beware Ukrainians?
— The Slovaks look good in the attacking line. In defense, the national team of Ukraine needs to be extremely careful. The team is led by an Italian specialist, so a lot of attention is paid to tactics.
— You will have to play in Žilina on artificialoh Hazone. It will on handsin to the owners?
— Except a little, as the Slovaks often played in Nitra, and only recently the team switched to artificial turf.
— What will the support be? national team of Slovakia?
— The stadium in Žilina holds a little more than 11,000 spectators, but I don't think there will be a stir. I think the hosts can count on a few thousand fans at most.
— What will be your prediction for this match?
— I think the match will end in a draw.
Serhii DEMYANCHUK