“Character has become our main trump card,” Ruslan Rotan about the entry of the youth team of Ukraine to Euro 2023 (U-21)

The head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine Ruslan Rotan summed up the return match of the playoff round of the Euro 2023 (U-21) qualifying round with Slovakia (3:0). Recall that according to the sum of two meetings (2:3, 3:0), the Ukrainian "youth team" got a ticket to the final part of the European Championship.

“In the second half, we changed tactics a bit, while the first half didn’t work out for us to some extent. But somewhere before the match, we understood that the transition from artificial turf, and not the latest generation, would have an effect.

Before that, we trained here for a week on such viscous fields, so after the break we physically and tactically surpassed the opponent. But I would like to thank the Slovaks as well - they also looked worthy, they also deserved to enter the European Championship. However, the strongest wins, so I congratulate us, I congratulate Ukraine. We want to dedicate this victory to our soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the installation before the match, we told the guys about it, they understood everything.

The weather affected the game. We always focus on ball control, on the good condition of the field. Unfortunately, today it was not of the best quality, the ball was bouncing. The field was very viscous, so this prevented us from keeping the match in our hands from the first minutes. But in the course of the fight, we rebuilt. It should be noted the character of the guys, their desire to win and reach the Euro. Perhaps this has become our main trump card today,” Rotan said.