Former Karpaty and Zakarpattia player Mykhailo Kopolovets told us what to expect from the Ukrainian national team at Euro 2024 and explained why the Ukrainian nation is the strongest in the world.
Mikhail Kopolovets- The guys are great. There was a lot of support from all our people. I think the whole country watched the match. To get to the Euros at such a time is worth a lot. Emotions are off the scale. It was clear that we were stronger than the Icelanders. It was true. But we had to prove it on the pitch. And they did it. The game with the Bosnians was quite difficult, but they suffered there. I am happy for the guys. Thank you very much for that.
- When you watched the game, did you have any concerns or was everything under control?
- I have a reason to be proud. We are a country at war and we play football. If another European country had such a situation, would they play football at all? Would Germany play football? Not just the Germans, but any country. But we do, and we do it well. And needless to say, many national teams play abroad. They suffer psychologically too. They see what is happening in their country. They have families and friends here. They won't take them all away, right? Most of our players have families in Ukraine. And it really affects them. When the match was going on, I was thinking about it. Would any European country play football if they were at war? No country would do that. And we still have a pretty good championship going on. The national team is playing well. And I think to myself: how strong a nation we are. Other countries in a similar situation would not even play football, let alone think about it. My emotions are overwhelming. Now at the European Championships, we need to perform well and make ourselves known as much as possible.
- Did you get high from Tsygankov and Mudryk's goals?
- Of course I did. In the last game, Yaremchuk was the saviour. He came on the pitch, scored, then gave an assist and made the result. And now Tsygankov did everything. He did a tremendous amount of work. He made this game. He scored and then passed to Sudakov, who assisted Mudryk. Tsygankov is the man who decided the fate of the match. It's nice to see what a great squad the Ukrainian national team has now. We have a stock of good players. It's not clear from whom to expect surprises. It's like when Barcelona had Messi, Chavi, Iniesta. Opponents did not know who to expect to be dangerous. And now we can play like that: Dovbyk, Mudryk, Sudakov, Tsygankov, Yaremchuk, Zinchenko. It's very nice, it makes me happy. There are performers who can make the weather on the pitch. Think about how it used to be. Everyone expected something from Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka. And now, in attack, you can expect a good game from anyone.
- Ukraine will play in the Euros for the fourth time in a row. Can we already consider our national team one of the strongest in Europe?
- Let's wait for the European Championship. We are there, yes. We are already there. We will expect a good game from them. The group allows us to do this. Belgium, Slovakia and Romania? I'm sorry, I think our team is the favourite in the group. They did a great job. We thank the entire national team for this. And there we will demand that the national team leave the group. Well, the rivals are really allowed to do this. Look, we don't have France, Spain, Italy, Germany. We do not have such top opponents. So the group is definitely within our power.
- Summer forecast. Where will Rebrov's team go?
- I see what we can add. We are able to adjust during the match, we have substitutes who come on the field and finish off the opponent, as it was with the Bosnians. What they say about the most successful national team in history, this is what it looks like. We have a great attacking group, the defence plays in the strongest leagues in the world. Well, you'll have to excuse me. We have experienced players. Well, Zinchenko is already an experienced footballer. The same Stepanenko. I don't know who will go there, but this team has already been formed. It already exists and is still young. This is very cool. We have Buyalsky, who is also a good footballer. Malinowski, Shaparenko. These are all people for the national team. There is competition. And the youngsters can add to it. In my opinion, Malinowski has not yet fully developed in the national team. He has even more potential. We have forgotten about him, but he was also the leader of Shevchenko's team.
Nazariy Shmigil
