Former Dynamo and Ukrainian national team player Serhiy Kovalets told NV the main advantage of the Nations League and explained why national team games are important for football.
Сергій Ковалець- The Ukrainian national team has received its rivals in the 2024/2025 Nations League. Can we count on first place in the group?
- We must respect all our opponents. We understand that football is developing. I read an interview with Serhii Rebrov, and he said that now we should think about play-off matches in order to reach the European Championship and go to Germany. If we talk about rivals, there are no top teams: England, Italy or others. But the Georgians or Albanians will be highly motivated to take first place in the group.
- You used to play for the national team. There was no such tournament then. Do you think it is necessary to create such competitions in modern football?
- This is a plus, because through the matches of the League of Nations you can qualify for the World Cup or, as it is now, for the European Championship. This is a normal tournament to replace just friendly matches.
- Who would you call up from the newcomers to Rebrov's team? Who deserves their chance?
- This is more of a question for the national team's head coach and his staff.
- Who will be the hardest to play against?
- I think every team will be difficult, but interesting. One disadvantage: we will not play all the matches in Ukraine, unfortunately. If we played at home, it would be easier, we have our own fans here. But the motivation of our players is quite high, and many national teams play very well in European championships at their clubs.
- What should the Ukrainian national team play for in this tournament? What is the general attitude to such challenges?
- The national teams don't meet that often. Plus, there is little time to prepare for games. Therefore, it is very good that there are such tournaments and matches with good opponents. They allow you to play the squad, it is also a chance for young people. And we have a lot of them in the Ukrainian league and abroad. Therefore, we need to take such matches seriously, because it is an additional chance to reach a major tournament.
- In the top championships, club coaches complain about the tight schedule and the fact that their players go to the national teams and then can get injured there.
- Well, yes, in 2022 it was a problem because there was a World Cup in Qatar. The tournament was in winter and not all players recovered enough for the season. But there are dates from FIFA that indicate national team matches. Whether they are friendly games or even official ones. There are certain windows in the year where the national teams meet. Therefore, for national team coaches, there are no problems with this at all.
- Predict all the positions in our group.
- I would like us to take first place and advance to Division A. I think it will happen. And who will end up in what place? I don't know. Let's not guess. It's an even group, it's hard to pick a favourite.
Nazariy Shmigil
