Dynamo U-19 head coach Ihor Kostiuk praised his team's 2-0 away victory over Chornomorets Odesa in the 4th round of the youth championship yesterday.
Igor Kostyuk- Today we didn't manage to score a quick goal, but we managed to win. It was a tough game, but we also set the team up that it would not be easy. It's good that we scored our two goals, but in the second half we didn't quite follow the game plan and didn't do what we needed to do. But at the same time, we created enough chances that we could have converted and brought the score to a big one.
- Is Dmytro Kremchanin's goal a testament to football intelligence or to the work he did in training?
- The opponent put the wall incorrectly, our guys did a good job, got their bearings, moved the ball a little bit and Dmytro rounded the wall. This is both intuition and a little football trick that we used. It's not something that can be instilled, it's either there or not.
- Playing at 11 o'clock in the morning in this heat must be difficult, but does it help to train endurance and strength of character?
- We said before the match that patience would be the main quality today. We had to push ourselves, endure, so that we could get a second or third wind. But, once again, in the second half we spent a lot of extra energy because we played incorrectly, positioned ourselves incorrectly, met the opponent in the wrong areas, and this led to the need to use additional strength, to return at maximum speed. Odesa made good use of this.
- Is that why you replaced the entire front line and centre of midfield?
- Yes, you saw the intensity in the first half: we covered Chornomorets high and created chances. In this heat, it is impossible to withstand two halves with such intensity. That's why we changed the guys, because we wanted to add speed, to run out on the counterattack. Actually, we succeeded, but failed to complete them.
- Did the anxiety affect your guys' attitude for the second half?
- It brought down the mood a little bit, and the guys didn't do what we had agreed on.
- Did you tell your players to take control of the ball - was it not enough?
- Of course, there were a lot of ball losses in this heat. When we took it away, we wanted to attack immediately. This should not have been done, because in such weather the swings did not contribute to maintaining a high rhythm of transitions from attack to defence and vice versa. We had to control the ball.
- Your main rival, Shakhtar Donetsk, is losing points, do you pay attention to this?
- Of course, we do, we follow the standings. But for us, the main thing is our game, its quality, so that both in training and in matches the guys progress, try to improve in each match, both in terms of playing qualities and physical ones.
- Today's match was attended by the club's management and part of the first team coaching staff. How did it affect your players?
- This is an additional stimulation and motivation for them. The guys see, understand that they are being watched, and perhaps at certain moments it even interferes, because everyone wants to prove themselves, starts to act more individually instead of playing as a team.
