Former Shakhtar and Ukraine defender Vyacheslav Shevchuk shared his opinion on the national team's 2-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final play-off match to qualify for Euro 2024.
Vyacheslav Shevchuk- Your impressions of the game and the result against Bosnia and Herzegovina?
- Such matches will not be easy and with a bright game. Having experience, I expected that it would be a difficult match, that there would be a lot of struggle, that the guys would have to show character, which they did. We also see that the coaching staff felt that they needed to add another striker - and Yaremchuk came into the game perfectly. He scored and passed to Dovbik - the two of them scored the decisive goals.
- What did Ukraine lack for a more convincing game?
- It is not very easy to play with such a team as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many of their players play in top championships, there are a lot of experienced players. In this match Rebrov was not afraid to release young Brazko, who made his debut - I congratulate him on his debut. In addition, we have a lot of young players - Sudakov, Mudryk, Zabarny, Lunin, who showed himself well at Real Madrid. They showed themselves well, but it was hard to open them up against such a team, which plays full in defence, with a low block, does not give space, plays with three central defenders in 5-3-2 scheme.
There was little space for our edge midfielders - Mudryk, Zubkov, it was hard for Dovbik to find a moment. But we see that we found levers to open the defence with flank passes. Perhaps we should have used it a little bit earlier.
Besides, when Bosnia and Herzegovina were winning 1-0, how their team wanted to drag out the time, how many simulations they had. Every 3 minutes some player was faking - one foot, one hand. This is also to annoy, to piss off the opponent. But our young players were good - they held on, withstood such a provocative method and won such a difficult match.
- What are your expectations from the match with Iceland, perhaps a prediction?
- We believe in our team. We know that our team has great potential, high level young players, who are already showing their maturity and skill in such matches. The Icelandic team is a physically fit team, playing power football, so there will not be a bright game, there will be a lot of struggle.
Again we will need to show the qualities that were shown with Bosnia and Herzegovina: only at the expense of character, desire, struggle. And, of course, we will need to prepare with a cold head. It will be a difficult match for everyone.
