Former Ukrainian national team player Yurii Shelepnytskyi spoke about his expectations from the Euro 2024 play-off match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will take place on 21 March.
Yuriy Shelepnytsky- The national team's head coach Serhii Rebrov is taking the team to Spain, where they will be training for almost a week. What is the rationale for such a long trip?
- It's not a very long training camp... The fact is that not all the players are in the same condition now, so I think it became necessary to gather everyone in one camp, in a remote and quiet place, to, first of all, put them in order physically, to do certain tests. It is obvious to me that Rebrov and his coaching staff will have a lot of work to do there.
- Why is the personnel focus on only three of the UPL clubs - Dynamo, Shakhtar and Dnipro-1 - for whom their matches of the 21st round of the Ukrainian championship were specially scheduled for Tuesday, 12 March? Are there no candidates for the national team in other UPL clubs?
- Now the result comes first. In the Euro 2024 playoffs, everything will be decided in one match. Accordingly, the coach will focus on players who have already produced results before, on those he knows. Serhii Rebrov will definitely not experiment in such a situation. Even those players who, whether in the UPL or abroad, are currently playing good football, but have not yet been called up to the first team of the country, and have not participated in key matches, will not be touched until they are called up later, at the next stage.
- There are many players in the current Ukrainian national team who play abroad. Which of our legionnaires is currently in the best condition and which is in the worst?
- I don't see any point in singling out the worst... Everyone has slumps. The situation changes literally every week. A month ago, I would have said that the main hope for our Spanish pair Tsygankov and Dovbyk was our main hope, but at the moment, unfortunately, Artem is in a slump and Viktor is injured. They say that Tsygankov's injury is not that serious, but if he feels even simple discomfort, it is a risk to bet on a play-off match.
As for the rest of the guys, everyone is playing - some more, some less... Zabarnyi, one of our best legionnaires, is not in top form right now, and it is very noticeable. The same can be said about Mykolenko. However, I am sure that they will be in the starting line-up against Bosnia and will do their job. In one match, everything will be decided by psychology and experience, so we will have to rely more on our legionnaires.
- Who do you see in the goal of the Ukrainian national team for the match against Bosnia?
- If Trubin hadn't conceded five goals against Porto, he would undoubtedly have been in the starting line-up. However, now there are nuances... I am pleased that Lunin is playing consistently for Real Madrid, but there he is like behind a stone wall, and even if he makes a mistake, the team will correct the situation. However, I believe that after the matches with RB Leipzig there can be only one conclusion: Lunin should be put in the goal of the Ukrainian national team.
- Zinchenko played one extra-time for Arsenal in the Champions League play-offs against Porto. How can you assess his condition?
- He will come to the training camp, and the coach will see everything. But the main thing is that in any condition, there are huge hopes for Zinchenko. He is the one who forms the backbone of the national team. Only the percentage of benefit that Oleksandr will be able to give to the national team will depend on his form - all one hundred per cent, or a little less... It is important for Rebrov that Zinchenko leads everyone.
- How dangerous is Bosnia and Herzegovina for us?
- We have already played with them and won. Not only their squad, but also their condition has not changed much since then. However, we need to remember that the coaches of the Balkan national teams always have a good personnel choice, there are always a lot of good players. Mentally, it is a big plus for Bosnia and Herzegovina that it will play against Ukraine at home. Given that I don't see any superiority of our national team over this opponent, the home field factor will be very significant.
- Predicting is a thankless task, but what do you expect from this match?
- The result that the Ukrainian national team should give. The beauty of football is something like that... You can win 1-0 and not look back at everything else. This is the first step we need to take on the way to Euro 2024, and then we will think about the match with the winner of the Israel-Iceland match.
Oleg Semenchenko.
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