Ukraine's U-19 national team has qualified for Euro 2024 (U-19). Dmytro Mykhailenko's team won their elite group. The Ukrainians defeated Switzerland and Latvia with the same score of 3-0, and also defeated the tournament hosts North Macedonia 2-0. He has not conceded a single goal.
There were 4 Dynamo players in the Ukrainian youth national team in the elite round.
Youth national team of Ukraine (U-19). Matvey Ponomarenko — №9. Photo — uaf.uaOleksiy Gusev started the tournament on the bench. The Dynamo player gave way to Shakhtar's Anton Drozd on the right wing of the defence. In the other two matches, it was Gusev Jr. who took the field. He played well. There can be no questions about his defensive performance.
Taras Mikhavko played two games in the tournament. The Dynamo first-team defender formed a pair of main defenders with Dnipro-1 representative Maksym Melnychenko. Taras missed the second round match against Latvia. He was given a rest. The Ukrainian defence made no gross mistakes. Perhaps there were minimal mistakes somewhere. Mikhavko had a great tournament. He became one of the team's leaders.
Andrii Matkevych started as a substitute. But in the course of the tournament, he won the competition on the left flank of the midfield from Sunderland's Timur Tuterov. In the first match, Matkevych came on as a substitute, and started the next two games in the first team. Andrii's flank was active, and Matkevych was constantly trying to make things worse.
Matvey Ponomarenko is the main star of the tour. Motya scored five of Ukraine's eight goals in the tournament. Ponomarenko started with a goal in the match against Northern Macedonia. In the next two matches against Latvia and Switzerland, he made doubles. During the tournament, Matvey made great use of his size. I had some fears in the match against the Swiss, because the opponents are already playing at the level of adult football in the lower Swiss leagues and are physically strong guys. Ponomarenko answered my fears with two goals.
The goals scored by the young Dynamo forward are not the quality of the team's performance, but his individual skill. In the first match against North Macedonia, Matvey played well with his body and scored from outside the penalty area. In the game against Latvia, he also scored with a long-range shot and converted a penalty, which he also earned (he felt the moment in the penalty area on the finish). In the game against Switzerland, he twice forced the opposing goalkeeper to make a mistake on the way out. Without Ponomarenko, it would be a completely different team. It is not a fact that it is so successful.
I am sure that very soon there will be information that a European club is interested in the services of the Dynamo forward. Potentially, Matvey can cost tens of millions of euros and play in the leading European championships.
Ponomarenko is no longer a forward for youth football. He can play successfully among adults. The match against Switzerland confirmed this. There were physically strong guys in the defence who are gaining experience of adult football at the level of adult leagues. Matvey outplayed them. I'm not sure that today Minaj or Veres are stronger than the representatives of the First or Second Swiss League. Motia went through a training camp with Dynamo's first team, but he didn't make it there and returned to the youth team. But Ponomarenko is not only a prospect, but also an asset for the club. He needs to be developed. His potential is huge. He is probably the best player in Ukraine under 20. But at 18, he is out of the first team.
Returning to the U-19 national team. A number of other players can qualify for the Euros in the summer. Yegor Syzonyuk has now started to play consistently in the youth team. Mikhavko's move to the first team has made him the main player in the centre of defence of the youth team. Syzonyuk was the main player in this team at the U-17 level.
Nazar Balaba missed the elite round. The captain of Dynamo's youth team was injured before the training camp in Turkey. In the second part of the season, he came on for a few minutes only in his homeland in Rivne against Veres. Balaba was on the roster, but at the last minute he was replaced by Dnipro's Ilya Badenko.
Dmytro Kremchanin did not receive a call-up from Mykhailenko. He used to be in the national team all the time this year. This is a coaching decision. The coach sees Metalist's Gennadiy Sinchuk in this position. This means that Dynamo needs to work even harder on himself.
Maksym Vasylets, Nazar Yanchyshyn and Roman Salenko also did not receive a call-up. The first two were actively called up and played for the national team this year at the U-17 level. Vasylets was not invited to the winter training camp in Turkey. Yanchyshyn cannot boast of significant progress. Salenko made his debut for the national team in the autumn during the first qualifier, but was injured all winter. It is unlikely that they have a chance to get in good shape by the summer.
The left-back position is a problematic one for the U-19 national team. This is a chance for Ivan Kotukha and Denys Dykyi. Whoever plays consistently, whoever shows progress, will have a chance to go to the Euros.
I think that the players born in 2006 have a good chance of qualifying for the Euros, except for the aforementioned Dykyi. Mikhailenko invites younger players to the team for a year. The same Ponomarenko is also born in 2006. There were also Viktor Tsukanov and Christian Shevchenko. Now the youth team consistently plays in the middle of the field with the trio of Danylo Ishchenko, Kyrylo Osypenko and David Bilyi. Each of them is a potential candidate for the national team.
Everything will depend on the success of the Dynamo youth team and the players in April and May. The same Tsukanov showed nothing in the national team. He does not play for Shakhtar's youth team, but trains with the first team. If this continues, it opens up prospects for Osypenko. Ishchenko and especially Bilyi looked very good at the end of February and in the first half of March at Dynamo U-19.
We also add Kirill Pashko to the list. But he needs to play consistently for Dynamo's youth team. He needs to win the competition in the club and the national team.
Vyacheslav Surkis was also called up to the U-19 team. He was at a friendly tournament in Korea and during the first qualification in Malta in autumn. Now he was absent for health reasons. He did not have time to get fit. Viacheslav missed part of the training camp and the start of the second part of the season due to appendectomy. Shakhtar's Vladyslav Kravets does not always play at the U-19 level. If he doesn't have any further game practice and Surkis plays consistently for the youth team, the Dynamo goalkeeper's chances of going to the Euros will increase significantly.
Serhii Tyshchenko
