Sergiy Tyshchenko's column. When the issue is not the players, but the coach. Kuzik's example

The real hero of the match between Kryvbas and Dnipro-1 (3-0) was Kryvyi Rih midfielder Denys Kuzyk, 21. He scored a goal and two assists. He twice rolled out to an empty net for Oleh Kozhushko and scored a beautiful goal himself. I would like to remind you that Yuriy Maksymov's team has won the last 5 matches in the championship after the coaching change. But last Sunday, Dynamo won 1-0 in Kyiv.

When I spoke to the then coach of FC Lviv, Oleh Dulub, at the end of winter, he was very pleased with Kuzyk's signing. Oleh Anatoliyovych said that from the first day of the viewing he saw great potential in Kuzyk. "It's a pity that Dulub was then removed. Back in the spring, Kuzik could have shown his potential.

Kuzik is a graduate of the Dynamo school. He has been in the system of the Kyiv club since 2015. He is from Ternopil region. He played for Dynamo's youth and senior teams. In 2021, together with a significant number of partners and Dynamo U-21 coach Yurii Moroz, he moved to Chornomorets. Then there was Kolos and FC Lviv. He did not stay anywhere for long. In the summer, he became a free agent and signed a 3-year contract with Kryvbas. He can play on the left or right flank of the defence. Yuriy Vernydub saw him as a player in the middle of the field.

It is clear that Denys has already gained a lot of experience playing for Chornomorets, Kolos and Lviv. He is already 21 years old.

Kuzik's example shows that Dynamo knows how to find players. The academy knows how to train players. The question remains whether Denys would be able to play at the level of the Kyiv first team. But it is absolutely clear that with the right approach, Dynamo's own pupils can do a lot. They just need a coach who knows how to work with them. Perhaps Kryvbas' football is not very aesthetic, but Vernydub definitely knows how to work with young players. Yurii Mykolaiovych has already discovered so many young players from our city - Ruslan Malinovskyi, Oleksandr Karavaiev, Bohdan Lednev, Bohdan Mykhailichenko, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Ihor Kharatin. If Vernydub had the opportunity to work at a club with a strong academy, the number of such players could have been much higher.

The example of the successful play of Kuzik (far from being the most talented pupil of Dynamo's school) makes us think: perhaps Dynamo's problem is not with the players, but with the coach? Denys's progress under Vernydub's guidance is obvious. In the realities when a club relies on its own school, it needs a specialist who knows how to work with young people and helps them to develop themselves.

Serhiy Tyshchenko