Renowned Ukrainian coach Oleh Fedorchuk commented on the list of players Ruslan Rotan called up to the Ukraine national team for the away match against England.
- Oleh Viktorovych, are there any surprises in the list of players whom Ruslan Rotan has called up to the Ukraine national team?
- The main surprise is Yevhen Konoplyanka's call-up, even though there have been rumours about it for a long time. The national team should call up promising players who will play in the future, rather than those who have already finished their career. Moreover, Konoplyanka has been playing irregularly, and not in the strongest club. The logic behind that decision is difficult to trace. Perhaps, it is necessary for Rotan to answer according to what criteria he sent for this or that player. When fielding an older player, we must bear in mind that it could curb the career of some young players who could prove themselves.
- Perhaps the fact that Rotan played with Konoplyanka together affected his performance?
- Rotan played with a lot of people, his career lasted more than 15 years. To call up players on such a basis - it is the wrong approach. At present, it is a mystery who made the decision on the list of players. Perhaps Serhiy Rebrov also took part in it. Maybe Rotan has not even had time to deal with it now. This is not Rotanyya's national team, not the federation, not Pavelko. This is the national team of Ukraine! So we must choose the players responsibly.
- Another Ukrainian - Vladyslav Kochergin, who regularly scores for Rakuw, plays in the championship of Poland . At the same time he is not called up to the national team, unlike Konoplyanka. Do you think it is unfair?
- Kochergin also crossed paths with Rotan during his playing career, they played together at Dnipro. Kochergin is an interesting player, he played well in European competitions. I think he could be called up.
- Dmytro Kryskev, a young Shakhtar midfielder, made it only to the reserves. Has he not earned a place on the main roster?
- Of course he has. If we compare him and Konoplyanka in terms of transfer price, Kryskiv is at least ten times more expensive now. I think this decision is wrong. The only thing is that the medical service might have warned Rotan that Kryskev's injury between Rennes' games might lead to a longer recovery.
- Speaking of Shakhtar's youth, who else deserve a call-up to the Ukraine national team's main roster?
- Left-back Bohdan Mykhailychenko. I think he is number one at his position now. Of course, we have Mykolenko, but Vitaliy has been playing very unequally. Mykhailchenko looks more interesting to me. But it all depends on the opponent. There are more attacking and more defensive defenders. At each position there should be a choice.
- Was the choice of central defenders a surprise?
- Valeriy Bondar looks very good now. It is unclear why he was not included in the main list. It was a surprise for me. In addition, he played with Matvienko. They could make up the main centre-back pairing. Eduard Sarapiy had problems in European competitions, he looked very unconvincing. Sarapiy's call up is probably an advance. He is a versatile player, able to play both in defence and in midfield. Ilya Zabarny has been recovering from injury for a long time. Why did you call him up? To help him psychologically? He will travel from Bournemouth to London, see the city. If he will come out and play badly - it will only hurt him. But at the same time we should not be categorical. We don`t know the condition of players - some have micro-traumas, some are recovering.
- Why wasn't Jaroslav Rakitskiy, who has looked good in Shakhtar's recent games, called up?
- At his position there is already a big choice of players. I think he is losing out to them precisely on the sporting principle. I don't think he's not called up just because he played in Russia. Rakitskiy doesn't need to go to the national team now. He won't be a main man there anyway. And sitting on the bench, he will fall out of Shakhtar's training process and will lose his form.
- Were you surprised by the call-up of Andriy Pyatov, who has already said goodbye to the Ukraine national team?
- Alla Pugacheva has also finished her career, four times. And how many times Mykhailo Poplavskiy has left the stage! Maybe Pyatov should go to London and buy something. Pyatov is the third goalkeeper at Shakhtar. I do not remember a case when a third goalkeeper from any club has been called up at all. Once a player hasn't played for a month, he already loses his form. Therefore, I believe the decision to call Pyatov up for the Ukraine national team is illogical.
- Can Vitaliy Buyalskyy become the main player in the national team under Rotan?
- He is a good attacking midfielder who can be used by Rotan. Under Andriy Shevchenko and Oleksandr Petrakov he did not fit into the Ukrainian national team scheme. Perhaps then there was still something personal in the relationship with those coaches. I think Bujalskiy can help the team in England.
- There are only two strikers on the main list - Yaremchuk and Dovbik. Maybe you should have invited Kukharevich or Vanat from the Youth team?
- If we were playing against Luxembourg, we could have had five forwards. But we will play England in London. There will probably be only one forward in the starting line-up. Most likely, our task will be not to lose. Therefore, Rotan is a natural choice for this position. Besides, there are other good attacking players - Mudryk, Tsygankov, Zubkov.
- Could you call up anyone from the Ukrainian Premier League apart from the players of the top three teams?
- The Ukrainian Championship has just resumed after a winter break. It is very difficult to judge a player by one official match. Outside the top three, no one particularly stood out in the first round after winter. Even from Dnipro 1 the likes of Svatok and Sarapiy look unconvincing.
Andriy Kaplun