Former Shakhtar Donetsk player Oleksandr Sopko assessed the changes that have taken place this year in the Ukrainian championship.
Alexander Sopko. Photo - V.Peregnyak- Which team could you name the team of the year?
- The beauty of this championship is that there are several such teams - Dnipro-1, Kryvbas and Polesie. Nobody expected breakthroughs from the last two, but, nevertheless, these teams are among the leaders, show a good game, they can be called the discovery of the first half of the season and this year respectively. We can also include Rukh, but this team is still somewhere off the pace. "Shakhtar, Dynamo, Polesie, Kryvbas, Dnipro-1 - I think they all have equal chances.
In general, the peculiarity of this championship is that now in our championship there are no foreigners, there are no star players, who would be at a high level and raise the level of the clubs themselves. Footballers more or less, but all are equal, on the fingers of one hand you can list those who really stand out. And so basically everyone is equally football educated, with plus or minus the same level of talent. And if they are mixed between clubs, nothing much will change.
In particular, if the majority of Shakhtar players are transferred to other clubs, they will not stand out there. Just like putting players from other teams to Shakhtar, the effect will be similar. It is the same with Dynamo.
Now the highlight is that the coaching work comes to the fore, because previously it was believed that we must have foreign coaches, who would teach us how to be smart, while our own coaches were in the background. And now, with the lack of foreigners and limited finances, life has left no other options but to turn to our own coaches. And with the current plus-minus equality of players, it is the coaching work that comes to the fore, coaching ideas that allow to prepare a good functional base, choose the best tactics, based on the level of players.
Well, plus the ability of the coach to motivate, set up the team, to find the right word key to the abilities of each player. In such a situation such coaches as Yuriy Vernidub, Yuriy Maksimov, Yuriy Kalitvintsev, Roman Grigorchuk come to the fore.
And it is thanks to the coaching work that there are signs of creating a competitive championship. And we can be happy about it, because the players who were written off as recyclables not so long ago, and nobody knew about them, are really growing now. For example, who knew about the potential of Oleg Kozhushko, who is now the best striker in the championship, or Artem Kozak, the leader of "Polesie"? The list goes on.
The championship has definitely become more competitive, there is more intrigue. The level, unfortunately, has fallen, and performances in the European arena demonstrate it. But let's hope that we will somehow manage to push from the bottom and develop at the expense of our own resources.
- Can you name the transfer of the year?
- Dibango. The footballer was bribed by his maturity, confidence, good physical form, athleticism, understanding of the game, good technique. I am surprised that he played somewhere in the Baltics, and nobody noticed him before. So Kryvbas did very well in the transfer market, and in the future they can monetise this player well.
Yevhen Savchuk
