On Wednesday, 27 September, Dynamo Kyiv lost 0:1 to another capital club, Obolon, in the match of the Ukrainian Cup 1/8 finals and were eliminated from the tournament. The meeting took place in Kyiv at the Obolon Arena stadium. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coaches of the teams.
Mircea LUCHEU, Dynamo head coach:
- Why was Vanat not included in the matchday squad today?
- He is injured.
- Was Brazhko's substitution due to his mistake?
- He played very badly today, often made mistakes. He didn`t defend, made a lot of mistakes in passes.
But the problem is not in any one player or even in the team - the problem is in the mentality. We had a very bad attitude for this match. It was very important for us, very special. We wanted to win it, but we had very bad concentration. We started the game badly, we missed a lot of counterattacks of the opponent, there was a high deficiency in our actions. We did not set up for this match organisationally. That's why it was very difficult for us. We made an unreal number of mistakes today! I did not think, for example, that Benito's deficiencies could be as high as they were today.
Today young Ponomarenko came to the match with us. But I did not include him in the application - I made a mistake. And I was also wrong that I should have given a chance to young players - Malysh, Tsarenko. Again, I made a mistake. On the other hand, today played a lot of young players, who could not play football at the necessary level.
Well, I also did not understand the referee today. Every two minutes he made big pauses. Even in situations when the events took place 50-60 metres from the penalty area. It was unclear what he wanted to achieve. He was provoking the game. Because of his approach, the teams could not play fast, could not show their football - the referee did not let them. But I don`t put the responsibility for our defeat on him - it`s my fault.
Valeriy Ivashchenko, head coach of Obolon:
- What is there to comment on - it's not every day you beat Dynamo. This is the elite of Ukrainian football. I told the players of our team before the match that today they can make history. After all, "Obolon" has never reached the quarterfinals of the Ukrainian Cup. As a result, the guys wrote their names in the history, and I just congratulated them. And they deserve these positive emotions. But from tomorrow we need to switch to preparation for the championship matches. Congratulations to everyone who was rooting for us today!
In the first half we also had a lot of chances, which had to be realised. But the main thing is that we finally scored this difficult but important goal. I hope it will serve as an impetus for the next matches. It is always important to believe in the chosen strategy and direction. And the goals will come. We have chances, but we lack realisation. We will work on it.
- Obolon's president came into the locker room after the match. What did he say to the team?
- He promised everyone a beer. (Laughs). But seriously, the club president always helps the team, helps everything he can.
- Who would you like to face in the quarterfinals of the Ukrainian Cup?
- One of the fans just came up and said that now it's Shakhtar's turn. But whoever gets caught will get caught. We need to play with any opponent. If we want to strive for a positive result, we should not care who we play against. Especially, we play in the Premier League and we have to match it.
Oleksandr POPOV from Obolon Arena
