The head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine Oleh Kuznetsov summed up the team's performance in the qualifying round of Euro 2024 (U-19).
Photo: uaf.uaUkraine's youth national team finished the Euro 2024 (U-19) qualifying round in first place. Now the blue and yellows are waiting for the elite round, which will take place in the spring of 2024. The head coach of our team, Oleg Kuznetsov, told the UAF official website about the past tournament and plans for the future.
- Oleg Vladimirovich, your words that there is no favourite in our group have been confirmed. Was it difficult?
- As you can see from the result, it was not easy for everyone. Malta, Kosovo and Slovakia had players of a fairly high level. We assumed that everyone would lose points, but some more, some less. There was a decent level of teams in our qualifying group.
- After the victory over Malta, there was an inexplicable defeat against Kosovo. What was the reason for that?
- There are days, matches, when nothing works out. Chances were created but not realised, and the opponent had several counterattacks, and our individual mistakes in defence led to conceded goals.
- Was there a debriefing after such a failure?
- In principle, no. Everything went according to plan: we analysed it and pointed out the mistakes. Yes, we talked about the difficult situation, but everything was still in our hands, so no one sprinkled ashes on our heads...
- And in the last match, the Ukrainian national team did not notice Slovakia...
- "It's just that in the first half we made good use of two standard positions and scored another goal. And after the break, the opponent opened up, and we could have scored as many more, but we limited ourselves to one goal. In this game, I had no complaints about the players' goal-scoring chances.
- Whom would you like to recognise at the end of the tournament?
- There were mistakes, but in general, the team performed well. As for the new players, they did not disappoint. I am pleased with their performance and attitude.
