Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine midfielder Heorhii Sudakov shared his thoughts on the 1-1 Euro 2024 qualifying match against England and the upcoming game against Italy.
Georgy Sudakov (photo: O. Popov)- "Speaking of the schedule, last year we played the Champions League and the league two days later. This is normal, at this level you need to recover quickly and prepare for Italy.
As for the game against England, this point is very important for the fans and for us, but you always want to win, no matter what team you play against. It's probably a good result for us, but it's not enough. Now we have a game against Italy, and all our thoughts are about it. We understand how important it is. The 1-1 draw between the Italians and the Macedonians will probably help us in the next games.
It was very difficult at the start of the match with England, we didn't touch the ball at all for the first 15 minutes. But they didn't create many chances - only a goal in the first half, and no more chances. It's just hard to play without the ball, you have to run a lot. But we took advantage of our moment, scored a goal and played very well in defence.
We understood what the match would be like, what England was like, how strong they were. But we also did not forget about our level, about our game. I would have liked to play more with the ball, but we understood how difficult it would be. The English were pressing very high, it was difficult to go through short, medium passes. We used a lot of long passes, but we all understand why this happened. But after such a game, we can say that we are satisfied with the result.
Who can be singled out in the England national team? Many, because there are strong players there individually, physically. Kane, Saka, Walker, Bellingham, Maddison... It's hard to pick one. All the players cost 100 million - this is an incredible team.
We haven't analysed Italy yet, so it's hard for me to say anything about them. A strong team, at the top level, the current European champion. I can't say they are weaker than England. Yes, they lost the first qualifying match, but now they will be angry, preparing for us as if it were their last game, because this is their last chance to rectify the situation. But we are also going for points," said Georgy Sudakov.
