Former Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine national team striker Oleksiy Belik shared his impressions of the semi-final play-off match of the Euro 2024 qualifying round Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Ukraine (1:2).
Alexey Belik- Before the game, the starting line-up of our national team was quite predictable. Perhaps, with the exception of the goalkeeper position in the supporting zone. What do you think about the choice of Lunin and Brazhko?
- It so happens that now there are three good goalkeepers in our national team - Lunin, Trubin and Buschan. All three goalkeepers have constant game practice. I consider Lunin's advantages are, firstly, that he plays in a stronger Spanish league and plays in a great club. Of course, the name "Real" (Madrid) affects everyone, but Andriy Lunin has earned a place in the Ukraine national team with his work. He won the competition with Kepa, and Courtois' injury certainly helped him. The choice of goalkeeper for this match is the prerogative of goalkeeper Rustam Hudjamov. He sees everything in the training process.
As for the appearance of Vladimir Brazhko in the starting lineup, I didn`t expect it. I thought that Sidorchuk, Shaparenko or Malinovskyi could play on this position. These three players have a lot of experience in international matches. Yes, not all of them are used to playing in the supporting zone, but they could cover this position. However, Serhiy Rebrov put the powerful Brazhko in the starting line-up, who plays skilfully against taller opponents. He also played confidently against Dzeko several times, putting the body correctly.
- For the last 10 years all the supporting midfielders were from Zaporizhzhya - Stepanenko, Sidorchuk, and now Brazhko. How to explain it?
- I do not know. (Laughs). Yes, all these guys are pupils of Zaporizhzhya Metalurh, which is used to play from defence, maybe that's why. In general, Brazhko had a good match, although the game of our national team was not of the best quality. We won a willful victory, but with what nerves.
- Why, in your opinion, the first half passed without shots on goal, because Lunin and Shehich never entered the game?
- The cost of a mistake in such a match was extremely high. This is a play-off stage, where everything is decided in one night. Bosnia and Herzegovina head coach Savo Milosevic played with three centre-backs for the first time. And it is difficult to play against such opponents.
When the Ukrainian players possessed the ball, we were more confident, but we spent too long looking for options to continue attacks. In general, Zinchenko and Sudakov had a good control, but it was almost impossible to get the ball to Dovbik. I noticed that Mudryk and Zubkov often went back in search of the ball. We could not break the defensive line of the hosts in the first half, where the three central defenders were assisted by two more laterals. We did not make this massive defence make any mistakes.
The hosts played more vertically, constantly loading two forwards - Dzeko and Demirovic. Edin Dzeko - an experienced 38-year-old striker skilfully clung to the balls, earning standards at the gates of our national team.
- What were your thoughts on the 56th minute of the game, when Matvienko cut the ball into his own net?
- It was clear that nothing had been decided yet. We had plenty of time to win the game back. However, we again played without a goal. Only in the 75th minute of the game Mudryk first shot into the net of Shehich's goal. And even such a shot from 30 metres makes the opponents nervous. It is already necessary to cover the kicker, to rebuild in defence. Only at the end of the game Mudryk fuelled our attack, throwing Efim Konoplya into the breakthrough, who shot to Yaremchuk.
- Why didn`t Serhiy Rebrov make any substitutions until the 76th minute of the game, as we were losing and something had to be changed?
- All of Sergei Rebrov's substitutions worked and that is the main thing. If we had lost... Then it would have started. And so it is logical that Roman Yaremchuk, a textured forward, came on the pitch.
- You are a former striker, which of the offensive line players did you like more in this match - Dovbik or Yaremchuk?
- I cannot but praise Artem Dovbik. He was guarded by two defenders and a third player was protecting his two partners. It is difficult to play like that. However, there are questions for Dovbik as well, we need to open up better.
As for Roman Yaremchuk, he benefited from playing in La Liga. In Valencia he played differently. Often in Spain, he plays in a scheme with two forwards, so Yaremchuk feels like a fish in water here. And the healthy competition between Dovbik and Yaremchuk helps them both. If Artem scores 15 goals in La Liga, Roman can score as many. All this is for the benefit of the Ukrainian national team.
- Doyou agree with the opinion of the fans of our national team that Roman Yaremchuk became theMVP of the match?
- Absolutely. Coming on as a substitute, Yaremchuk scored a crucial goal, and also gave an assist to Dovbik. I know from my experience how hard it is to come on as a substitute in such matches.
- Can our head coach put Dovbik and Yaremchuk in the starting line-up for the game against Iceland?
- Everything is possible. There should be a discussion among the coaching staff. I remember that Roman Yaremchuk played in the qualifying match against Portugal in the place of the false nine. He can also play on the left, conditionally on Mudryk's position. Roman has speed, we saw it in the episode with the second goal.
But here it is important to study the game of the Icelandic team, to understand how they act. So far I can not form an opinion about the game of the Icelandic national team - for this I need to see a few of their matches and analyse everything. We need to understand that it will be difficult to play with the Icelanders, they give little space to opponents.
- Were you surprised by the fact that our coaching staff entrusted three debutants - Brazhko, Gutsulyak and Taloverov - to play in this meeting?
- No. All those who were called up to the national team, all deserved it with their play. Guys should be given a chance, even if it is a super responsible game.
- Ahead of our national team has the most important game in Wroclaw, Poland, against Iceland. How do you see this match?
- As I have already said, our coaches need to study the opponent's game thoroughly. We have not often crossed paths with them. It is clear that the Icelanders have a lot of players playing in European clubs. Someone plays in Italy, someone in Germany and France. The same Gudmundsson, who scored three goals for the Israeli national team, plays in Italian "Genoa" together with Ruslan Malinovsky.
The character of Icelanders is familiar to everyone. It is clear that our guys will not lack motivation - everyone wants to play in the final part of the European Championship. Perhaps it is good that we will play in Poland, where many Ukrainian fans will come to the match. Now we still need to restore all the guys to be fully ready for this meeting.
