On Saturday, 18 May, in the match of the 29th round of the Ukrainian championship Dynamo Kyiv defeated Kryvyi Rih Kryvbas with the score 3:1. The meeting took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coaches of the teams.
Oleksandr SHOVKOVSKY, Dynamo head coach:
- I congratulate all Dynamo fans on the victory. I would also like to thank our defenders and defencewomen for the fact that they give us the opportunity to play matches, to hold the Ukrainian championship. I wish all of them health, I wish them to come home with Victory as soon as possible and I wish all of us that this war ends as soon as possible.
As for the match, we were preparing for it after the defeat and against the background that all tournament tasks were already closed for us. I asked the guys to be professional until the end and prepare for the game, understanding the spirit with which Yuriy Vernidub's teams always prepare for matches. We understood that it would not be easy. Despite the fact that Kryvbas also approached the game without tournament objectives, although, I'm sure, we expected more. Our matches with Yuriy Vernidub's teams are always characterised by principle, playing against these teams is always very interesting, but always very difficult.
- Are you satisfied with the way your team played today with the scheme of three centre-backs, which you used in the first half?
- When there are no tournament objectives, you can do some experiments. Especially since so many teams play with such a scheme, and we need to understand how to act according to it, because at any moment we may need to reorganise accordingly. We had chances, we could score. Not everything was successful, the events on the pitch did not develop exactly as we had planned. Therefore, at halftime I decided to return to our traditional scheme. But I think that this first half will definitely give us some options in the future.
- How is the health of Yarmolenko, who received two painful blows?
- There were clashes, game moments - it happens in football. I hope Andriy has nothing so serious. We waited until the break to make a decision on his replacement. It turned out that the bruise was quite severe, it was even hard for Andriy to breathe. But after the game he told me that he feels good. I think, in the near future he will fully recover and everything will be fine.
As for the situation with Brazhko, there was a hard clash and he got a blow. But, I think, a week or two, and he will be fine.
- Does it make sense to risk in the last match with Ruh, the players who will be called up to the Ukraine national team for participation in Euro-2024?
- After the match with Shakhtar I had a conversation with the head coach of the Ukraine national team, we talked a lot about the state of our players, about their attitude to work. We agreed that in the match against Kryvbas we will play with the most optimal squad, but after this game our national team players will have a short holiday to rest for about a week and then start preparing for Euro 2024 as part of our national team.
- Will there be any personnel reinforcements for your team on the eve of the next season? There are a lot of names in the media now.
- I think that there will be a lot of talk about transfers. The off-season, agents are working and some other forces invisible to us. As they say, do not read Soviet newspapers at night. (Smiling).
We are planning to strengthen, we have developments. And we'll see what happens.
- You told about your conversation with the head coach of the national team of Ukraine. Was there a conversation with the coach of our Olympic team?
- No.
- Why Tsarenko is so rarely available for matches?
- Unfortunately, it turned out so that Tsarenko got an injury, which did not allow him to work fully with the team. He missed a lot. Only in the last week or two he started to more or less gain the form that we expect from him.
We had a championship race and we could not put in the lineup someone who is not ready to give the maximum of his abilities. Tsarenko's condition allowed him to play at a high level only in certain circumstances. He is our fighting unit, we count on him, as well as on all our players. But all the guys must be ready to take the field at any moment. As it happened, for example, today: all our substitutions were unplanned.
Yuriy Vernidub, head coach of Kryvbas:
- Not a bad game. Neither our team, nor Dynamo could not change their tournament position, so today's game was to show ourselves and not to let something from the category of a big defeat.
Not a bad game played by both teams. "Dynamo" started the match with the scheme of playing with three defenders, but we immediately reorganised. Yes, we conceded two goals quickly, but it's like that - we reorganised, scored back and had chances to equalize the score.
I think we looked very good in the first half and in the second. Usually Dynamo dominate, but today this team played more on counterattacks, and we wanted to win back. We had plenty of chances. As well as Dynamo. Our opponent was more lucky. Moreover, this incomprehensible penalty. There was a shoulder-to-shoulder fight. I have watched this episode five times. What penalty?
Again, I am very pleased with the way we played today. Moreover, we gave a chance to a number of young players to prove themselves. They should be given the opportunity to progress. In this regard, I like the approach of Dynamo, which has a lot of pupils. I think that Dynamo now have the best Academy in Ukraine, they surpassed Shakhtar in this respect.
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy
