Former Ukraine national team defender Artem Fedetskiy 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.
- What are your impressions of the game and the result against Bosnia and Herzegovina?
- Nervous game, of course. The result - let me put it this way, I guessed, I said it would be 2:1 in our favour, but, of course, it was to be expected. We understand that the Balkan teams, especially when they score the first goal, then use all possible methods: time delays, and the game on the result to dry up the match. But the guys did well, they coped.
Of course, there was a difficult psychological moral pressure, because a lot was at stake in this match. But they did well, Rebrov guessed with substitutions, released players at the right moment, especially Yaremchuk, who scored a goal and gave an assist. I do not think it was to save, it was a subtle technical moments - we played on the edge with two similar forwards, both of them scored.
- What do you think our team lacked to play more convincingly?
- You journalists have a slightly different notion of a more convincing game. If you are not a professional footballer, you cannot understand how it happens directly. We can see from the mood that the team was set up psychologically, the match was not easy. And this is the Balkan team, it is not an easy team.
Of course, when you score first, the game develops quite differently. And so - somewhere was at stake in this match, what is worth a setback. We had to win for sure. Of course, we played cautiously, there was psychological pressure on the result.
It is clear that we wanted a brighter game. I wanted Ukraine to play more confidently, to create more chances. But there are such matches, where you need to take into account how the opponent plays. Yesterday, perhaps, somewhere we played more cautious, and somewhere Bosnians imposed their style of play. They played such calm football, tried to move calmly.
Of course, we needed a bit more speed, if we had scored earlier, the game would have turned out very differently. But the guys were good for not giving up, they fought until the end, they believed in the result, I think, not only the players, but the whole Ukraine, and achieved it.
- What are your expectations from the match with Iceland, perhaps a prediction?
- This is the final. Only one result will suit us in the final. We want our national team to get to the Euro, because it deserves it. And we understand that this is a much more difficult opponent than Bosnia and Herzegovina. Icelanders, I think, are not the team that will close tightly on their half of the field.
They also like and know how to play football. So it will be easier for us to play with them, because the Icelanders will need to attack, and we will need to think about goals and victory. Therefore, football will be more open. Yes, the responsibility of the whole match is not less, but probably even more, but the game, I am sure, will look very different.