On 12 September, the opening match of the Euro 2025 (U-21) qualifiers for the youth national team of Ukraine (players born in 2002 and younger), led by the Spaniard Unai Melgosa, will take place. The match between Ukraine and Northern Ireland will start at the National Training Centre in the Slovak city of Poprad at 18.30 local time (19.30 Kyiv time). It will be recalled that in Group F, the teams of England, Ukraine, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg will compete for tickets to the final stage of the European Championship. On the eve of the game, the head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine Unai Melgosa answered questions from the UAF press service.
Unai Melgosa. Photo: uaf.ua- How would you comment on the friendly with Germany? Have you fulfilled all the tasks set before the sparring session?
- We had the opportunity to play a very interesting game. Germany is a strong team, and such a match is important for our development. I am quite pleased with both the team as a whole and the players individually. They tried to play forward in attack and take a step forward in defence. Of course, we have something to improve in our game. But in general, my assessment is as follows: it was a good match, the players are developing.
- The situation with the attack... After the experiments, who do you consider to be the main forward of the team?
- Attacking is not the job of one player. The whole team must play on the attack. We demand not only from the strikers, but also from the wingers and midfielders to play on the attack and implement it. Therefore, we should not talk about an individual player. We have to talk about all the players, their functions and roles on the pitch.
- How would you assess Yarmolyuk's performance? And do you have any other legionnaires in your pencil?
- At this age, I would not single out any of the players personally. Although most of them play for the first teams of their clubs, they are still learning, they are still very young. We watch all the young players, both in Ukraine and abroad. If we realise they have the ability, they will be called up to the youth team.
- The team includes representatives of the team that became a semi-finalist at the Euros and won a ticket to the Olympics. Do you think any of these guys can become a leader, the core of the team in the future?
- I understand the question. But I still prefer not to talk about individual players. All the players in the team have to make their contribution to the team. Everyone has different roles and functions. Of course, we discuss among ourselves in the coaching staff which players may be more promising. But I wouldn't want to share these thoughts so as not to disturb the players.
- What assessment would you give the Northern Ireland national team given its start in the Euro qualifiers?
- The Irish lost the first match. You never know how they will react to that. But after we watched the game, I can say that they could have scored and not lost. They have qualities and abilities, so we have to show the best version of ourselves to play accordingly and try to win.
