Former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder and now a famous Ukrainian coach Serhiy Kovalets commented on the victory of the Ukraine national youth team over England(3:2) in the match of the Euro-2025 (U-21) qualifying cycle the day before yesterday.
Sergey Kovalets"The team actions of the youth national team of Ukraine were superior to the individual actions of the English. The first goal of our team took place when there was a selection of the ball in the opponent's half of the field and everyone correctly shifted to the zone of England's attack development - as a result of which a good goal was scored. And then the second goal of the British took place.
Watching the match, you could feel positive emotions and a high desire to win. Yes, we could have drawn or even lost, but you could see that our guys have the desire and spirit. In this regard, I would like to say about the coaching staff, who set up our team correctly, which helped us to play very solidly.
If we talk about the national team, its helmsman Sergei Rebrov immediately said that there will be one systematic approach - in the main team, in the youth team, and in all the others. And it is right, because when Rebrov got into Valeriy Lobanovskiy's Dynamo Kyiv team, the double and the first team worked at the same level. The system, training and basic exercises were the same. Lobanovskiy controlled the whole working process of all teams.
It was exactly like that when I came to Dynamo. In 1990, the main squad won the championship, the reserve team also took the first place, besides, there was also a victory in the USSR Cup. The double was then coached by Viktor Mikhailovich Kolotov, who was noted for his fair attitude. Just at that time I was moving from the reserves to the first team and knew well what exercises to do.
And this is a normal process for all our clubs, if we are talking about U-19, U-21 and the main team. I repeat: this is the right direction. So Sergei Rebrov is doing everything properly. He worked with Spanish specialists, so he fully controls the process. The mentor of the "youth team" Unai Melgosa said so. From the point of view of tips, analysis, communication on the players it was obvious that the players of our youth team understand: if they show themselves today in U-21, tomorrow they will be involved in the national team. This is what motivation should be at the level of all national teams and in every club. The top of the pyramid is the national team, and all the others work for a single result," said Kovalets.
Vyacheslav Kulchytskyy
