Former Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine striker Andriy Vorobey shared his impressions of the 2-0 Euro 2024 qualifying match with Northern Macedonia with UPL TV.
Andriy Vorobey- I have mixed impressions of the game. We made a lot of mistakes. In many ways, North Macedonia forgave us in both halves. Yes, we still had chances to score. But the opponent had a lot of them. Fortunately, Trubin saved a lot of them.
- Comment on Sudakov's goal.
- Football is about shots on goal and goals. This goal proved that we need to shoot as often as possible. It's wrong if we only want to put the ball in the net.
- After the break, the initiative went to the opponent. Did we decide to play on the counter or did the opposition add to it?
- I think it's 2 to 1. We don't like to defend and we don't defend very well. Sometimes our numbers in defence are not of high quality. We need to be able to defend better, play one-on-one, and not go deep and imitate the selection. This can play a cruel joke on us.
- What negative things can be noted despite the victory?
- I didn't understand the substitutions. Yes, Karavayev came on and scored. But it's hard to talk about Yaremchuk, it's a sore subject. I wouldn't have played him at all in this match.
- Who should be praised?
- I would mention Trubin. He made a lot of saves in the first half and played reliably in the second half. I think he was the best player of the match. Even despite Sudakov's goal. Trubin's reliability was crucial for us.
- Is there anyone to criticise?
- In both halves we looked a bit tired. I can't understand why. After all, it was only the height of the season, and our players were visually tired and could barely walk on the pitch. It turns out that we are not physically ready in October. This is not right. Players need to run, cover distance, tackle, go forward - this was not the case. It seemed that we wanted to win through skill. But now all teams can pass and play football. So there is little chance of winning purely on skill. You need to have character and physical readiness, but today we were inferior in this respect.
