Former Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk player Volodymyr Kovaluk commented on the victory of the Ukrainian national team over North Macedonia in a commentary for Komanda1.
Vladimir Kovaluk- To be honest, I can't remember a time when our national team was as helpless as it was in the first half of the match under review. And it's still good that it cost us only two conceded goals... Although after a productive draw in a recent sparring match away to the eminent Germany, it seemed that Serhii Rebrov's wards could easily declaim the North Macedonians.
- Then why did the match inSkopje turn out to be so validating, how can we explain such huge differences in the performance of our players?
- With Germany and North Macedonia, the Ukrainians acted according to the same scheme, in particular, Tsygankov was again entrusted with the role of the so-called "ten". But the match in Bremen was a friendly, the opponents did not do their best. The actions of the Germans lacked compactness and the guests often managed sharp counterattacks in space. Yesterday was a completely different situation. The match was for the Euro qualifiers, the North Macedonians cherished the ball, not allowing the guests to use their strength - a quick transition from defence to attack. In addition, the guests were guilty of inaccurate passes and found it difficult to establish a combination game. But most importantly, they were inferior in terms of decision-making speed and therefore had to foul much more often.
- In your opinion, what substitutions did the new coach , Rebrov, have to make at half-time to break the deadlock?
- In such cases, they say that you could safely change the whole team... But if I had my way, I would have replaced, first of all, one of the midfielders, the same Yarmolenko, who was not only ineffective in attack but also did not have time to help Tymchyk in defence. Rebrov nevertheless decided to make substitutions in terms of positions: instead of Dovbyk, who was falling out of the ensemble, the more tenacious Vanat came on, and Konoplya had to put things in order on the flank, for which Tymchyk was responsible. And to Rebrov's credit, he did not make a mistake with the "fresh" players, in particular, Konoplya equalised after Zabarny scored from a corner, although in general, the nature of the game did not change much in the second half. The only thing is that our team began to meet the hosts higher, which allowed them to push the game away from their own possession.
- The visitors' actions were really unimpressive after the break, so what helped them to win a super-willful victory?
- Our players also increased their intensity, and it became increasingly difficult for the hosts to carry out positional attacks. The guests were very lucky that their first two shots on goal were effective. The Balkans did not recover from this, as it seemed that everything was under their control. The cohesion disappeared somewhere, and when Musliu's endurance betrayed him and he was sent off, there was hope that everything would end happily for the Ukrainians. And indeed, they managed to get the extra goal quite quickly.
And although they say that the winners are not judged, the Ukrainians' performance in Skopje left an unpleasant aftertaste. It's good that this time it was a one-off, but I'm convinced that in this scenario, if our opponents were the British or Italians, they would not have missed their chance. It is already obvious that Serhiy Rebrov has a lot of work to do, as several positions are of serious concern.
Vasily Mikhailov
