The confident and impressive victories of Ukraine's two main teams - the national and youth teams - provided a positive backdrop to a football information week that was full of important events both on and off the pitch.
Photo by Alexander PopovUkraine national team: home walls of Prague
The situation in the 2024 European Championship qualifying group is such that the last round match between the national teams of Ukraine and Italy is turning into a butt match - for second place, which gives the right to go directly to the final tournament. However, before this confrontation, Serhii Rebrov's men had to avoid losing points in their matches against Northern Macedonia and Malta. The Macedonians, meanwhile, were still hoping to intervene in the dispute for one of the tickets to Euro 2024.
It is worth recalling that the first match between these rivals started terribly for the Ukrainians, who were losing 0-2. In the end, they managed not only to equalise the score, but even to win, but at the moment, the main hero of the game in Skopje, Viktor Tsygankov, was unable to help the team due to injury. Neither was another team leader, Andriy Yarmolenko, who had just undergone surgery and is out for at least four months.
Usually, during double-headers, the domestic press conducts a more in-depth analysis of the Ukrainian team's actions after two games. This time, too, we have to rely on the description of the vicissitudes of the match in Prague and the emotions of the authors.
"The Balkans had a few dangerous chances, but we were greatly helped by Georgy Sudakov's goal, which the Shakhtar midfielder scored with a ricochet from the opposition. After that, it became much easier to play, because the Macedonians had to go forward, and therefore opened up a lot of free areas. However, this result hung in the balance almost until the final whistle, when Aleksandr Karavayev took advantage of Dimitrievski's mistake from a very long distance and put an end to the match," states Igor Tsvyk (Sportanalytic.com, 14.10.23).
In addition to Sudakov, who scored his debut goal for the national team, journalists note the excellent actions of the Blue and Yellows goalkeeper Trubin. He saved the team from seemingly inevitable goals several times.
"It turned out that the North Macedonian national team can attack sharply ," emphasises Terrikon.com (14.10.23). " In two episodes within one minute, Anatoliy Trubin helped our team out. And in general, in the period between the two goals, the Ukrainian goalkeeper showed himself in all his glory. So it is no surprise that the fans chose him as the player of the match."
The match was played on opposite courses and was quite spectacular. According to the xG indicator (expected goals), the Ukrainians outscored their opponent more than three times 2.50 to 0.77. However, the Macedonians proved to be a very, very worthy opponent, and until the last few minutes the outcome of the match was hard to predict, an easy victory was out of the question. The final period promised to be nerve-wracking for us. The goal by the fresh Karavayev put all the questions to rest - the Kyiv player's long-range strike was unanimously regarded as the highlight of the match.
"At the end, Rebrov sharply strengthened the defence, releasing Svatko and Karavayev instead of Sudakov and Mudryk. Playing with three central defenders, the Ukrainians did not allow their opponents to do anything, and in the last minutes Karavayev scored a masterpiece goal! " pays tribute to the author of the small miracle Vlad Mirenko (Footclub.com.ua, 14.10.23 ). - Having taken the position of left winger, the Dynamo all-rounder helped a lot in defence, and in this episode he proved himself phenomenal: he beat the opponent on the edge of the box and, noticing Dimitrievsky's reckless exit from the goal, threw the ball behind his collar."
Taras Kotiv from the Football 24 portal also cannot contain his admiration.
"And what the joker Rebrova is doing! Karavayev twisted his opponent on the left flank, and then almost from the centre of the pitch threw it behind the collar to Dimitrievsky, who came too far out of the goal, trying to read the play with Yaremchuk coming out in the centre. Rebrov is the genius of the moment! The only thing that upset me was the ridiculous act of Zinchenko, who flew onto the pitch to celebrate and received a yellow card for it. However, Sasha can be somewhat understood. Karavaev's magic trick is an extreme pleasure," the journalist shares his feelings (Football24.ua, 14.10.23).
"Generally speaking, the Ukrainian national team looked quite solid, except for a few moments. The superiority of our players over their opponents was noticeable, and the coaching staff made the right decisions about the starting line-up. Anatolii Trubin saved in goal, Artem Dovbyk created and pressed in attack, and Matvienko and Zabarnyi were practically not brought in in the centre of defence. And this is despite the fact that almost all experts before the match were convinced that Ukraine would definitely concede. One way or another, today our team won with class, which is very pleasing to say. Now all our efforts are going to Malta, and then we have to wait for November ," Ihor Tsvyk sums up his impressions of the victory over North Macedonia (Sportanalytic.com, 14.10.23).
Thus, the first third of the strategic task has been completed by the Ukrainian national team. The final step is to be taken in Leverkusen, Germany, on 20 November. If they manage to finish above the Italians in the table, Rebrov and his team will pack their bags for the final. If not, there will still be hope of winning one of the three tickets to Euro 2024, which will be drawn in March next year following the results of the 2022/23 Nations League.
"Youth: the English exam is next in line
While the qualifying cycle of the first team is coming to an end, the youth team has just begun its qualification for Euro 2025: in Luxembourg, the squad of 21-year-old Ukrainians, led by Spanish specialist Unai Melgosa, won the second consecutive victory - 3: 0.
"Ukraine's youth national team began its journey to a new major tournament - the 2025 European Championship - with a minimal victory over Northern Ireland. It was not easy to achieve a positive result in that match. TheUkrainian team did not look convincing in attack, and in defence they made mistakes that, fortunately for us, the British did not exploit," Sport.ua recalled (12.10.23).
The next match was not without some game problems: the guests fussed too much and attacked mainly through the centre, from where it was difficult to break through the echeloned Luxembourg defence. However, the Ukrainians' superiority in class was still felt.
"Melgosa's men calmly controlled the ball and, accordingly, the game itself. Luxembourg should thank their goalkeeper, who saved after the shots by Bragar, Brazko, Ocheretko and Krasnopir," Football24.ua noted (13.10.23).
It was Obolon Kyiv forward Krasnopir who opened the scoring, allowing his teammates to calm down, relax and confirm the status of the pair's clear favourite.
"Melgosa resorted to substitutions: first, Yarmolyuk replaced the injured Ocheretko and strengthened the centre of the pitch. This allowed us to act more actively and put more pressure on the opponent, and here it is worth noting the efforts of Krasnopir. And when the game advantage became more apparent, the Spanish coach released three fresh players at once with an emphasis on attack. And this approach worked - Viunnyk took a pass from Voloshyn and coolly scored in the far corner of the Luxembourg goal," reads Lubomyr Sirskyi's report (Ua-football.com, 12.10.23).
Melgosa's substitutions worked this time, but the Ukrainians should work on their lack of ball handling, the author notes. Because the idea of combination football is really good, and the Spanish coach expects his players to do exactly that.
"In the second half, the Red Lions were forced to think more about attacking, which led to the formation of free zones in their defence, which was used by the Ukrainians, who scored twice more ," Serhiy Sytnyk analyses the game ( Footboom1.com, 12.10.23 ) . Two "jokers" played: the advantage was doubled by Viunnyk, who almost with the first touch sent the ball into the goal after Voloshyn's pass, and in stoppage time Kvasnytsia put the ball in the net, assisted by the same Viunnyk."
"Generally speaking, it was a class victory, and I would also like to hope that our players made exactly as much effort as was needed, because on Monday Ukraine will play against England," Igor Tsvyk looked into the near future (Sportanalytic.com, 13.10.23 ). " The only thing I didn't like was the large number of yellow cards our team received, and the lion's share of them were received in the last phase of the match. Why did we have to give so many warnings in a match that was quite calm?"
"We did a good job," summed up the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, " I think we were pretty calm for the most part. We had chances to score, and there were more of them than in the previous game against Northern Ireland. Perhaps it was only in the last third of the pitch that we were not successful, but in the end, by continuing to do the same thing, we scored" (Sport-express.ua, 13.10.23).
With six points, our youth team leads their qualifying group. But the next match will be a difficult and responsible test - in Kosice on 16 October, the Blue and Yellows will play a home game against the current European champions, the England youth team, which in its first match destroyed Serbia with an astronomical score of 9: 1!
UEFA: aggressors have no place in sport
By the way, the English Football Association acted as a chorus of protest against, to put it mildly, UEFA's ambiguous decision to return Russian teams to big European football. The game's ancestors announced that they would never play with representatives of the aggressor country in response to the European Football Union's verdict to allow Russian youth teams to compete. Subsequently, the English were joined by representatives of a dozen other national associations from the Old World - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Romania. Under such pressure, UEFA was forced to sign off on the erroneous verdict.
"Russia will not be allowed to participate in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifiers this month, European football's governing body UEFA said on Tuesday," Interfax reported on the Associated Press' report on the regular meeting of the football body's executive committee (Interfax.com.ua, 10.10.23).
According to UEFA, "this agenda item was removed because there was no technical solution to allow Russian teams to play".
The update of the position of Alexander Cheferin's department provoked a favourable reaction from the football community. In particular, Fredrik Reinfeldt, President of the Swedish Football Association, commented on the decision not to mitigate the Russians' disqualification in any way.
"We believe that it is wrong to allow Russian national teams to participate in international tournaments while the war in Ukraine is ongoing. That iswhy we welcome the fact that UEFA has decided not to allow Russian national teams, both adult and youth, to participate," Reinfeldt was quoted as saying by Ua.tribuna.com (10.10.23).
The Scandinavians' firmness is worth highlighting, as one of the strong arguments for UEFA was the position of the Swedish Association: it officially announced that it would block Russia's participation in the U-17 European Women's Championship, which it will host next year, in any case.
Andriy Shevchenko, a former player and coach of the Ukrainian national team and our first ambassador of the United 24 platform, a national brand to unite the efforts of international partners in supporting Ukraine, also shared his opinion on this issue.
"I welcome UEFA's decision not to consider the admission of Russian U-17 football teams to international tournaments. The age category does not matter in the matter of global justice. This is a small but important step. I thank everyone involved in the negotiations. We continue to defend Ukraine's interests in the international arena ," Andriy's post on his Facebook page was duplicated by most domestic sports publications (11.10.23, Xsport.ua, sport.ua, ua.tribuna.com, dynamo.kiev.ua, sport24.ua, footboom1.com, footclub.com.ua, pressing.net.ua, etc.).
Former Ukraine midfielder Yevhen Levchenko also supported his compatriot.
"A huge respect to all those countries that supported Ukraine and dared to speak out. I hope that in the future some FAs will have the courage to speak out and be less politically correct. Only together can we change football for the better! FIFA, it's your turn! " he was quoted as saying by Xsport.ua (10.10.23).
Why doesn't the International Football Federation follow the example of the International Olympic Committee, which on Thursday imposed further sanctions on the Russian Olympic Committee.
"This decision was made due to the fact that the NOC of Russia included in its membership the Olympic councils of the occupied regions of Ukraine - DPR, LPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. This is a violation of the Olympic Charter. The NOC ofRussia can no longer perform the functions of the National Olympic Committee and will not receive funding from the IOC ," Sport.ua reported (12.10.23).
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth and Sports continues to do its part in the process of isolating Russia from international sports arenas. Last week, the department submitted to the parliament a draft resolution on the Appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the International Paralympic Committee to reinstate the ban on the participation of athletes from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in international sports competitions.
"The draft Appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in particular, proposes to
to condemn the admission of athletes from the killer countries of Russia and Belarus to international sports competitions, including the 2024 Paralympic Games;
to draw the attention of the International Paralympic Committee to the brutal and barbaric actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the war against the Ukrainian state, aimed at the genocide of the Ukrainian people and the complete destruction of the Ukrainian nation.
In addition, the Appeal states that the Russian Federation cynically uses the national Paralympic movement as a political tool. Russian and Belarusian Paralympians are directly involved in events in support of the armed aggression against Ukraine or tacitly approve the Kremlin's aggressive policy," the official website of the Committee states (Komsport.rada.gov.ua, 10.10.23).
The appeal proposes to call on the International Paralympic Committee to support Ukraine, its citizens, including Paralympic athletes, and to completely ban the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international sports competitions, in particular, in the 2024 Paralympic Games, until the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine ends, troops are withdrawn from all internationally recognised territory of Ukraine and the issue of compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine is resolved.
UPL arbitration: not only about VAR and fees
While Ukraine's best footballers are defending the country's honour as part of the national teams, the heads of domestic clubs continue to develop a common position in the process of improving the refereeing of domestic competitions. At the end of September, a meeting of the presidents of the Ukrainian Premier League clubs was dedicated to discussing this issue. The second step was a video conference with the participation of top managers of elite teams and the leadership of the UAF Arbitration Committee, including the head of the department Luciano Luci and the chief arbitration expert Nicola Rizzoli.
"The parties exchanged views on the quality of arbitration of Ukrainian championship matches. Such meetings are very necessary, and we hope that they will take place on a regular basis," said Yevhen Dykyi, Director of the Ukrainian Premier League, describing the summit. " Colleagues from the Referees Committee demonstrated how all UPL matches are analysed. The clubs also expressed a wish that the work of the Referees' Committee should be more open. It was previously agreed that the video analysis of matches conducted by the Referees' Committee would be available on the Committee's official resources" (Upl.ua, 11.10.23).
"Club managers were present. If the management team was not present, then the top managers of the clubs were present," shared the details of the meeting Metalist 1925 executive director Andriy Nedelin, " UAF representatives and vice presidents were also present. There were Luciano Luci and Nicola Rizzoli. The meeting, as everyone understands, is non-standard. It was held for the first time in many years" (Ua.tribuna.com, 11.10.23 ).
Representatives of the judiciary commented on and qualified controversial decisions or decisions of arbitrators that are subject to careful examination. Much attention was paid to the work of the HACC teams. Several important proposals were put forward, including a public discussion of controversial episodes after each round. This practice is common in the world. In Italy, in neighbouring Poland. The leaders of Ukrainian clubs support the creation of a similar media project in our country.
The clubs' proposals include making the ratings of referees public and raising the fees of the best referees as a way of fighting corruption.
"Because today we don't know what grades are given. Accordingly, we want to know what kind of marks they are, and then form a rating of referees," commented Veres president Ivan Nadein, " Perhaps we should divide the referees into several groups so that it is clear who works at what level. Accordingly, the clubs are ready to pay some bonuses to the referees who get the best marks. It would be a certain incentive."
However, the heads of the Referees Committee do not support this approach.
"The on-field referees, according to curator Lucha, receive 39 thousand hryvnias per match. VAR referees receive 6,000 hryvnias," journalist Igor Semion quoted (Sport.ua, 12.10.23). " Therefore, transfer to VAR, rather than a complete suspension, is sufficient punishment, as it leads to considerable financial losses.
At the same time, Luci himself also admitted that VAR referees do not bear any responsibility. "That is, if you make a mistake, are transferred to VAR, and in the next match (already on VAR) you also make a mistake, you can easily take your 6,000 hryvnias, and all the responsibility will fall... on the referee on the field.
Kryvbas posted a number of questions and suggestions for improving refereeing on their official website. In particular, the following aspects are highlighted. Is it now possible to obtain information about the referee's assessment by the match inspector? Does the referee have a system of fines and penalties after an unsatisfactory assessment? Who controls the inspector's decision and assessment? What criteria are used to appoint referees? What factors influence the promotion or demotion of an arbitrator in a class? Can referees give comments after matches? Is there a mechanism that protects referees from accusations of biased refereeing?
And for each point, there is a corresponding proposal from FC Kryvbas.
"All these proposals have been sent to the Referees Committee, we are ready to set up working groups to discuss the proposed innovations and explain our position in more detail," the Kryvyi Rih club explains its position. " All points, especially the last one, require more detailed discussion and explanation of all the details and nuances. We are confident that these changes will benefit not only all clubs, but also the refereeing corps and Ukrainian football as a whole. We would like to look for solutions to urgent problems, not excuses" (Fckryvbas.com, 12.10.23).
By the way, Kryvbas vice-president Artem Gagarin also believes that the meeting with the leadership of the Referees Committee is a step forward. However, he is somewhat sceptical about the attitude of the arbitration curators.
" Wehave not heard an answer to the specific question of whether the representatives of the Arbitration Committee themselves want changes or not, " Tribuna quoted the official as saying. We will see how this changes. But we all need changes and more openness" (Ua.tribuna.com, 11.10.23).
Despite the military realities of our country's life, football continues to be an important factor in public life. A photo from the front line, where our soldiers in the trenches are watching the broadcast of the Ukraine vs.
This importance was confirmed by the national team's coach Serhiy Rebrov in an interview with Radio Svoboda.
"Our people need help. Not only the soldiers, but also the people affected by Russian aggression. That's whywe are doing everything in our power to help our people, to help the Armed Forces," says Serhiy Rebrov (Radiosvoboda.org, 13.10.23). " I believe that sport is politics. In the world and in Europe, many people know and respect people who have earned respect in sports. And I don't know who is more popular - politicians or athletes who have done something for their country. It is very important that when there is a war going on, there is no sport outside of politics. Everyone must unite and confront the aggressor."
Orest LELEKA
