The head coach of the Ukrainian youth national team Unai Melgosa shared his thoughts on the team's 4-0 victory over Luxembourg in the Euro 2025 qualifying match.
Unai Melgosa. Photo: uaf.ua- We are satisfied with the score. As for our game, there are some points. In the second half, we were more aggressive. We were a bit lucky that the opponent was without one player (Luxembourg had a suspension).
In the second half of the game, we took a step forward and played much better than in the first. We had chances in both the first and second half, but I didn't like the chances in the first half as much as in the second. I asked the players to play more in attack, and it worked in the second half.
- Was it your tactic to throw balls behind the opponents' backs?
- Yes, it was. We needed to find a place to pass the ball. We knew that we could do that against Luxembourg. We knew that they would play a high defensive line, we understood that we would need to shoot. I told the players about it.
- Why did Vyunnik and Voloshin switch positions at the beginning of the second half?
- The players themselves suggested it to me. Sometimes I don't allow them to switch like that, but this time I agreed with them. They played like that for a while and then returned to their positions.
I am not completely satisfied with the way the players understand me and follow my tactical instructions. There are a lot of things we need to work on. On the other hand, my players are very open to trying something new.
We don't know yet whether Bragaru will play in the next match. We will know in two days. We care a lot about our players, we don't want to force them to play. We care about their health. If we use him, he could aggravate his injury and miss a lot of games. It's better to let him rest. There are no new injuries.
