Former forward of Kyiv Dynamo Oleg Salenko spoke on the air of the program "Football Format" about the state of the Ukrainian national team and our soccer in general.
Oleg Salenko- The national team is kind of a mess right now. There should be one coach who prepares the team and will continue to prepare this cycle. Now our national team players mostly play abroad, they need an authoritative coach who could bring them all together. But here it turns out that the coaching staff decides nothing. They ask a player, "Are you ready?" - "Ready" - "Well, go..." That's the biggest problem. And okay England, but for the next two games the federation needs to think of something so that someone is already in charge of the national team. Otherwise the next games could be a failure too.
- Who would you suggest for the national team, except Rebrov?
- It is clear with Rebrov, they will not let him go. I see a candidate who can lead the team. We have a war going on, so we only need one of our own. The main candidate and I`ve been saying this for a long time is Yura Maksimov. He knows all the players and has authority - this is the main thing now. And, of course, he must be put on the pitch for the whole cycle, not for one game, as Rotan prepares three teams. Lobanovskiy would be surprised that it is possible. There is no such thing even in the world. The head coach should be confirmed as soon as possible, June games are soon. There is Maksimov and he has assistants, I know it. It is necessary to do this now, otherwise we may find ourselves in the same situation with Macedonia. I don`t want to see that, but it can happen.
- The line-up for England didn`t surprise you? Why, for example, Yaremchuk, and not Dovbik?
- He was given a chance to prove himself. But a striker can not prove himself if he is not supported by the midfield. And in this game the midfield didn't support him. It's good that the English scored two goals and then calmed down. But we had no chances. I expected Tsygankov and Buyalskyy to be in the starting lineup - those are two players who know each other for a long time. But both were absent. Okay, Yarmola is sick, but in general the lineup was not clear to me. And to release Konoplyanka, just to put him on the field...
- Svatok had a good debut? Or should you have let in a more experienced Popov?
- We have problems with defense. One broke down, the second said that the condition is bad. Two fell out, we had to replace them, and it`s very hard to play in five days. Who was put in, who was put in, but they began to fail in the middle of the first half.
All experts understand that the team must be prepared for the next games. The team needs a coach. A permanent one. We have the silence.
- "Dynamo has probably dropped out of the race for the gold medal of the Ukrainian championship. Is it your favorite?
- Everything is clear. "Shakhtar will win. They have a balanced lineup and everything they have. "Dynamo... Here there is the same as in the national team. We need a new coach to build the team. I am in good touch with Dynamo, because my son plays in U-19. There are promising players. However, as Lobanovskiy said, the team is created in a year or two, but then it is a team. It is necessary to do it now.
