On Saturday, 9 September, the Ukrainian national team played a 1-1 draw with England in a Euro 2024 qualifying match. The match was nominally a home game for the Ukrainian national team, but because of the war it was held in Wroclaw. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coaches of the teams.
Serhiy REBROV, head coach of the Ukraine national team:
- How will the team prepare for the match with Italy?
- We will see. Now it is very important for us to recover. Players have already started to do it. These two days we will restore the guys. The next game is no less important than today.
- To what extent did your game plan work today?
- We had a plan for the game, but England ruined it. We should have attacked more, but it was difficult for us to come out of defence. However, football is a result. Yes, England had the initiative, but how many chances did they create? I think we played very effectively in defence. I thanked the guys for this. Before the match I told them that it would be very important for them to enjoy playing in defence. Today they managed to do it.
- Are you satisfied with the atmosphere that was at the stadium today? Would you like to play home matches in Poland in the future?
- We have to play in Poland. However, we play our next home match in the Czech Republic.
The atmosphere was really good today. The twelfth player helped our players a lot - the fans gave our team extra motivation. It is very important to have the support of the stands in a match against such a strong opponent. We had great support today!
- Assess the game of Mudryk and Yaremchuk in attack.
- I share the players. Today the whole team worked on defence. Again, we had a different game plan. We tried to attack, but England forced us to defend. Today was such a game. The next game will be different.
- What was the reason for Matvienko's replacement?
- Unfortunately, he has an injury. But it is not a new one - he has felt it before. I am grateful to him that he nevertheless came out for this game.
- How important is it now for Ukraine to play in such a tournament and to play in such an atmosphere as the one we had at today's match?
- Of course, it is very important for us. We have to play away from home. And when you get into such an atmosphere as today, you realise who and what you are playing for. We talk a lot about the war in Ukraine, and in these conditions, the atmosphere we got into today was incredible!
- How difficult will it be to prepare for the match against Italy in just two days, taking into account the fact that today we had to play in the heat?
- Yes, it was hot, but when we played Malta it was much hotter. It is very difficult to play in two days on the third against such strong opponents. That's why I said that recovery is very important for us now. We started it right in the changing room.
Гарет Саутгейт. Фото — А.ПоповGareth Southgate, England head coach:
- It was a very difficult game for us. We controlled the ball 70 per cent of the time after we conceded, but in the final third we were not effective enough and therefore we failed to score again. In tournament circumstances, this is an important point for us. We continue to fight. We have earned enough points in this qualifying cycle, and this draw is also very important.
But, I repeat, it was very difficult for us. Largely because of the pressing in the centre of the field by the Ukraine national team, which played very compact and did not give us space for attacks. After we managed to equalise the score, we began to act in a more comfortable style, but we must give credit to the opponent - he did his best to play the way he did.
Again, we are happy to take a point away from here. You cannot win every match, especially when you play in an attacking style. Because you have to win every ball. In addition, today we played under tremendous pressure from the stands. It was a real test for many of our players. Some of them made mistakes.
We did not change anything in our preparation, but we tried to refresh the team. To some extent we succeeded - Saka hit the crossbar. But it turned out that in the end it was only a draw. It's all right, we move on.
It was difficult for all attacking players of our team today - Ukraine played with great pressure, very tight. Both in defence and in midfield. As a result, there was no space for our players. In these circumstances, we tried to act from deep, connecting defenders and, as a result, it was Walker who levelled the score.
In matches like today, players gain experience. In such matches they grow as professionals. We controlled the game, we could have scored more, but it was very difficult for us. However, we grow as a team and improve our quality from match to match.
Alexander POPOV from Wroclaw
