Not only will the match between Shakhtar's adult teams and Dynamo be of great importance, but also the game at the youth team level. In many ways, it is in Shchaslyve that the U-19 champion will be determined.
Throughout the second part of the season, Igor Kostiuk's team led the standings. In the last three matches, they lost 5 points. The team failed to hold off Polissia 0-0, and then lost to Kolos 2-3 (Dynamo lost to these opponents in the first round). Both games took place at Kyiv's training ground in Koncha Zaspa. Now, Oleksiy Belik's men are one point ahead of Dynamo. In the head-to-head match, Dynamo need to defeat their Shakhtar counterparts in order not to rely on other teams.
Ihor Kostiuk's men won the first 8 matches of the second part of the season. They scored a lot and almost never conceded. Then there was a decline. Probably, no team in the world can be stable for a long time, and here we are talking about young players. From February to mid-April, there was an upswing, and then the decline began. Perhaps they believed in their victory in the championship too soon. Everything about young people is very, very unstable. You need to be understanding of this.
I would look at this situation a little deeper. The main support player Danylo Ishchenko was injured. Formally, central defender Nazar Balaba started playing in the support area. In the midfield, the trio of Ishchenko, Bilyi, Osypenko collapsed. These guys looked very good in the middle of the pitch and complemented each other. Roman Salenko, who had been treated for a long time, started playing more. Roma is a very physically developed guy, but his chemistry is lacking. Balaba lacks the quality of a supporter. He doesn't have the necessary virtues, understanding, reading of the game, work with the ball. Moreover, his game and physical form are not very good. Nazar missed February and most of March (he didn't go to the 2005 national team in March) because of an injury.
The second aspect is the centre of defence. We started with the pair of Zakharchenko - Syzonyuk (Mykhavko is already in the first team, and Balaba was injured, it was the main pair of defenders in the autumn). Then Taras Mykhavko started to get game practice, Balaba returned from injury, and we started to trust Maksym Korobov.
I think this is the main reason. We lost our chemistry. There were changes in the support area, and there was a lack of stability in the centre of defence. Hence the problems in the match against Kolos, when we conceded three goals.
So, there will be more motivation for Shakhtar. Dynamo have no room for error anymore. The Miners' main advantage is experience. They have enough players born in 2004. At Dynamo, only Anton Tsarenko can potentially be such a player. Belik has problems with the goalkeeper, the centre of defence, the backline, and the striker. "Dynamo just has to prove that it is stronger in the face-off game.
The head-to-head game will determine a lot, but not everything. Because there are still two difficult matches left. "Shakhtar will play against Polissya in Zhytomyr and at home against Dnipro-1. These are the third and fourth teams in the standings. Dynamo also has a tough schedule: a trip to Kryvyi Rih (the first game was in Kyiv in autumn) and a visit to the current champion, Rukh. These are very difficult opponents, plus logistics.
We need to win the championship, because the last time we won was a long time ago. Such an important tool for the development of footballers as the UEFA Youth League is very necessary for young Dynamo players. Moreover, the generation of players is very interesting. The opponents have enough problems of their own: Belik is in his first year as head coach of the U-19s, and the generation of players there is not very strong. "Rukh has frankly fallen apart. Many players left Dnipro-1 for the first team. The support of Dynamo fans in Shchaslyve on Friday will be very important for Kostiuk's boys.
Serhii Tyshchenko