Ruslan Rotan: "The group was quite strong, but there are no weak teams at the Olympics"

As previously reported, yesterday in Saint-Denis, the draw for the football tournaments of the 2024 Olympics took place, as a result of which the men's national team of Ukraine got into Group B together with Argentina, Morocco and the third representative of Asia.

Ruslan Rotan, head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team, commented on the draw results. The coach also told about the news from the team's camp and the details of preparations for the friendly match with the U-23 team of Japan, which will take place on 25 March in Fukuoka (starting at 12:15 pm Kyiv time).

On the results of the Olympic draw

"The group was quite strong, however, there are no weak teams at the Olympics," said Ruslan Petrovych. "Argentina does not need recommendations, it is one of the main favourites of the tournament, and most likely with Messi in the team. Our youth team will soon play Morocco, so we will see the potential of the Africans. But everyone knows how generous teams from this region are with talent. A recent example is the performance of the Moroccan national team at the last World Cup. As for the third Asian team, maybe it will be Japan, which we will meet in the near future?

We are starting to prepare for the forum from today. We want to show ourselves and our country with dignity and try to achieve the highest goals."

On cooperation with clubs

"There has been and is a lot of talk about the feasibility of the match in Japan. Yes, again, for various reasons, we were unable to gather the squad that won the right to go to France for the Olympics, but today no one can say which players will go to this tournament.

You all know that the Olympic Games will not take place on FIFA's dates, which means that clubs may not let their players go. We talked to UAF President Andriy Shevchenko about this topic, and he said that he would help in the process of dialogue with the clubs. On my part, I am confident that at least our clubs will once again show their patriotic stance. It is very important at this time, and Shakhtar, Dynamo and other Ukrainian teams have always worked for the interests of our country."

On personnel issues

"It was very difficult to organise this training camp, and I am grateful to the UAF management for organising it. We gathered in Hungary, at the training base of FC Szeged. There are excellent working conditions here. It was very difficult to decide on the squad, because the list of players for the opening of Japanese visas had to be submitted two months ago. In fact, we had to guess who would be invited to the national and youth teams that play official matches and who would not. Injuries also made their own adjustments - because of them, the team leaders Artem Bondarenko, Dmytro Kryskiv and Mykola Mykhailenko did not come to the training camp.

The first thing I said to the players? I congratulated them on a historic event - all of them can take part in the debut match of the Ukrainian Olympic team. The successes in the youth team should be forgotten, but we should take the best from there - our great relationships and respect in the team, our principles of the game and its idea. This is a new team, and each of the guys can prove themselves and go to the Olympics.

We have called up eight players who have not yet worked under our leadership in the national team, but half of them know our principles from their work at Oleksandriya. Therefore, there are not so many newcomers. It's great that in early summer we will take part in a prestigious international tournament in Marseille. There will be enough matches there, and we will be able to go there with the players of the youth team, which will not have official appearances. I hope that the match in Fukuoka will give us a headache when it comes to choosing the squad."

On the sparring match with Japan

"A very interesting match awaits us in Japan. The hosts are preparing for the Asian Youth Cup, where tickets to the Olympics will be drawn. The Japanese are carefully preparing for this tournament. They have a very well-coordinated team that has been playing together for over three years.

Six legionnaires who play in European championships have been called up to the Japanese U-23 team. Six players were involved in the national team. We have seen many matches with the participation of the Japanese - with Argentina, the USA, the Asian Cup qualifiers. On 22 March, our opponent is sparring with Mali, another participant in the Olympics. I hope we will have the opportunity to watch this match as well.

There is not much time, but I see that our players are very focused and responsible for theoretical and practical training. Of course, a long flight can make its own adjustments, but this is another test that we need to pass. I believe that the guys will cope with it."