Renowned coach and expert Oleg Fedorchuk shares his opinion on the battle for the UPL gold. It will be recalled that yesterday Shakhtar lost points in the match against Oleksandriya (1-1), while Dnipro-1 beat Chornomorets (2-1). Shakhtar is in first place in the standings, but Dnipro-1, having three points less, also has a game in hand.
Oleg Fedorchuk- "Dnipro-1, of course, could have lost precious points in Odesa," Fedorchuk said. - "But it would have been undeserved, because Oleksandr Kucher's team shot more often at the opponent's goal and had more goal-scoring chances.
"I also liked Chornomorets - you can feel the skilful coaching hand of Roman Hryhorchuk. However, I think that Odesa could have taken a risk during the game and tried to be more aggressive in attack. I noticed how Chornomorets conceded the decisive goal - for some reason, no one played personally against Dovbyk. That's not right...
- With thescore at 1-1, the referee drew attention to his actions by awarding an 11-metre penalty to Chornomorets. What do you think about this?
- The help of the referees is cooling down Dnipro-1 itself. It's good that the Dnipro team, despite all this, played the match well, scored from the spot, and won. I think that Ukrainian referees need to stop trying to help someone else, and the UAF and UPL management need to go downstairs in the Football House and reduce the ardour of the refereeing corps. At the same time, I do not detract from the merits of Dnipro-1 in the victory over Chornomorets, and the fact that the Dnipro team is fighting for gold.
- So, doyou think that the referee of the match, Dmytro Panchyshyn, pointed to the spot incorrectly?
- Definitely, the penalty he awarded was a mistake, because the foul was up to the penalty area line. Why is this happening? It's simple: the price of the issue is $30 million, which the Ukrainian champion will receive for participating in the Champions League. And people do not pay attention to the fact that we say something, that the media and fans are outraged. Their eyes are closed to literally everything... But what strikes me most is that there is no reaction from the UAF and the UPL.
-Shakhtar, in turn, stumbled in Oleksandriia... What is happening with Igor Jovicevic's team now?
- In the last five matches, the Pitmen have been playing with a squeak. It was important that Oleksandriya scored a quick goal. "Shakhtar needed to rebuild after that, but Jovicevic's team looks tired. I can't understand where this fatigue comes from. There are no additional loads on the players at the moment - the national team is not playing yet, they are not participating in European competitions... It's possible that Shakhtar forced their form in February and March, but I see the reason in another way - the lack of quality players for rotation.
In addition, Jovicevic cannot finally determine the team's main centre-forward. It is noticeable how nervous Shakhtar are - there are a lot of unjustified fouls, and the atmosphere is somewhat electrified. After the 25th round, the advantage over Dnipro-1 has already been lost. And although Shakhtar's further calendar is more favourable, everything is going to be decided in the Pitmen's head-to-head match with the Dnipro side.
- In this face-to-face meeting, can the referees give a bias towards one of the teams?
- No, of course not. Remember the matches between Shakhtar and Dynamo, when there was also a tough fight for gold. Back then, the referees did not dare to do anything amateurish. But then we knew exactly who was behind Dynamo and who was behind Shakhtar. And who is behind Dnipro-1 now? Question. However, judging by what I see this season, who knows what will happen in the actual golden match? But then I don't envy the UAF, UPL and those judges...
Oleg Semenchenko
