Former Ukrainian national team goalkeeper Bohdan Shust shares his opinion on the level of goalkeepers who are candidates for the Ukrainian national team.
- Ukrainian national team manager Serhiy Rebrov has a pleasant headache: who to favour in the starting line-up, who will be in the role of an extra.
- And in your opinion, the goalkeeping school in Ukraine is respected?
- I am convinced that yes. Perhaps, before there was not such a fierce competition for a place in the national team, and at the club level, as now, but Ukraine can be proud of its goalkeepers. As far as I am concerned, they are almost the strongest link in the national team under Serhiy Rebrov.
- Then how can you explain that in the times when you yourself were still defending the gates of Karpaty, Shakhtar, Vorskla, Ukrainian keepers were rarely on the radar of scouts of famous foreign clubs?
- The situation used to be different. Domestic clubs were financially capable of keeping the best goalkeepers, after all, and their cost on the transfer market was noticeably inferior to field players. Therefore, it was believed that you can not make much money on them. And it was quite problematic to find a worthy replacement.
- Perhaps because their training was not given enough attention?
- I would not say so categorically. After all, in every team, not to mention the national team, there were coaches who were responsible for the training of goalkeepers. Predominantly, they were former goalkeepers who had a lot of experience. Another thing is that in their work was a lot of pragmatic, after all, and football was quite different then: without high pressure, teams did not practice the transition to attack with a short pass, where the role of the goalkeeper, especially his ability to play with his feet, is noticeably increased.
- Figuratively speaking, we are talking about goalkeepers of a new generation.
- You're right. By the way, I remember how at one of the press conferences the head coach of Chernomorets Roman Grigorchuk, assessing the performance of his goalkeeper, said: "I need him to think like a field player, then it will be easier for him to meet the requirements of today.
- The current attention of foreign teams to Ukrainian goalkeepers can be explained by the fact that the financial backs of domestic football clubs have become less strong?
- I think so. Ukrainian clubs find it more and more difficult to refuse the offers of their colleagues from abroad. That's why they have adopted a rather rational option: they give the goalkeeper at a reasonable price, but the deal includes a serious bonus from the next sale. And, finally, there are no irreplaceable, moreover, each team has three goalkeepers, and there are also reserves from U-19. So, there is a lot to choose from.
- Then, who is the strongest Ukrainian goalkeeper now, in your opinion?
- Andriy Lunin from Spanish Real Madrid. First of all, he has a great mentality. The Ukrainian has repeatedly proved his ability to hold a shot. He kept his cool even when the coaches of Madrid did not hide the fact that he will not get anything in Real Madrid, but continued to calmly do his job and proved that you can always count on him. Andriy impresses with his all-round preparation, I don't see any flaws in his actions. This is top-level.
- Next summer Lunin's contract with Real Madrid expires. What would you advise Andriy, to stay in the second role in thefuture, or to move to another team and have more game practice?
- I am not going to be an oracle, everyone has their own story. I believe that Lunin has repeatedly proved his high class and I hope that Real Madrid will realise that the Ukrainian can be safely counted on as the main goalkeeper. Moreover, with each match he is progressing.
- But so far, even in the national team of Ukraine Serhiy Rebrov trusts Anatoliy Trubin more.
- This is primarily because Lunin does not have enough game practice. However, it is the right of the manager to determine who is more deserving of a call-up to the national team, because he is responsible for the result. Besides, Trubin has often proved his high skill, both in matches for Portuguese Benfica and for the national team. He is also psychologically stable, which helps him win duels against opponents who find themselves one-on-one with him. Although Anatoly sometimes lacks concentration, especially on long-range shots. And when you miss the moment of the "shot", even lightning-fast reaction does not always help.
- Georgi Buschan is the most experienced among the goalkeepers of the national team, but recently he has been in the starting lineup less and less often.
- As for me, Buschan lacks motivation at the club level and it somewhere affects his game. I think that Buschan deserves to try his hand in some famous foreign club. The Dynamo management should help him with this transition, otherwise it will be difficult to avoid treading on the ground. Buschan doesn't need any advertising, he is a goalkeeper of a very high level: he has two working legs, brave on the exits, plastic, which helps him, despite his tall stature, feel confident in low shots.
- Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk is increasingly on Serhiy Rebrov's radar.
- This is a vivid example of a goalkeeper of the new generation. Excellent play on the line, "you" with the ball, he can not only pass to his neighbouring partner, but also make a targeted first long pass. Apparently, Dmitri still lacks confidence on exits, but international experience will help him get rid of this deficiency.
- The listed goalkeepers are still quite young, except for Buschan, can we say that they have secured their place in the main team of the country for a long time?
- This is too bold a prediction. After all, Dynamo player from Kyiv Ruslan Nesheret, Poltava's Pavel Isenko, Kovalev's Kirill Fesiun, Dnipro's Yakov Kinareikin are breathing down their necks. And it is this competition that makes them all work even more productively. To keep up with the demands of time, a lot depends on the efficiency of work, first of all, of coaches, to add value, it is necessary to increase professionalism at all levels. That's why we should pay tribute to Lvivians, who a few days ago started an all-Ukrainian forum for coaches working specifically with goalkeepers. It was very interesting and everyone will benefit from such an event. Therefore, it is desirable that it should be held regularly.