Journalist Igor Tsyganik commented on the game of the Ukrainian national team in the Euro 2024 qualifying match against England on the air of the Tsyganik LIVE program.
Ihor Tsyhanyk"It was a revelation for me that we had 7 'musicians' on the football field and only 3 people who were ready to 'carry the piano'. Three. The players of the Ukrainian national team came out to play the piano in the match against England at Wembley, in a match against one of the best teams in the world. And they explained to us very clearly what level of "musicians" we have. And those who tried to carry the piano, I think they fulfilled their mission.
The best player of the match was Svatok, who went out on the football field and did what he knows how to do, he fought for the result as much as he could. I can't say that he is the best footballer in Ukraine who can play in this position, but it was fate that he made his debut in an official match at Wembley. And what he could do, he did. There is Mykolenko, who tried to take the ball away from Sak as much as he could. And as much as he could, he resisted him. But he is alone and it is very difficult for him. The rest of the players came out to play "on the piano".
Having come out against the England team, we had to stay on our toes. I didn't look at the number of tackles in this match, but I think there should have been ten times more. Did we want to beat England in ball control at Wembley? It was the first time I saw Ukrainian players trying to get rid of the ball with the first touch, each trying to shift responsibility to the other, just to give the ball away and that's it. This is not football. On the other hand, what kind of result are we talking about? The Ukrainian national team came out and, given the lineup, I had the impression that it was a control game.
What does a player have to do to get into the starting lineup of the national team? I understand that Tsygankov would not have come on from the first minute if Yarmolenko had been there, but he was injured. Who can play better in this position than Tsygankov? Malinowski? Malinowski's virtues include many qualities, but speed is not one of them. Having a right midfielder, we put the center midfielder on the right so that in the second half, maybe if we have a good result, we can release our best joker in the match against England at Wembley. It's like hiding your best clothes in the closet because you might need them someday," said Tsyganik.
