Former Ukrainian national team defender Vasyl Kobin commented on the defeat of our national team in a friendly match against Poland.
Vasily Kobin- Who among the Ukrainians deserves the title of the best player of the match against Poland?
- Sergiy Sydorchuk, definitely. He played all 90 plus minutes at a very high level. He worked for both defense and attack with equal benefit.
- Who would you call the weakest link in the starting eleven of Ukraine?
- I would not like to single out anyone personally in this light, to confer such an unhonorable title. However, Rebrov and the coach, who is responsible for practicing standardized positions in the national team, need to talk to Oleksandr Zubkov. The man doesn't know how to play with his head at all. I mean, he doesn't know how to play with his head at all. I don't even remember when Sasha, playing for Shakhtar, fought in his own penalty area or imposed a fight on the second floor. This is a very big disadvantage for the player. The coaching staff needs to do something about it. Perhaps they are using him incorrectly on the field.
- In Warsaw, Ukraine's defense was bursting at the seams for the first 45 minutes. Which of the quartet of Mykolenko, Bondar, Taloverov and Tymchyk has the least chance of playing at Euro 2024?
- Oleksandr Tymchyk did a good amount of work with the Poles, it is clear that he is functionally well prepared, but with all this he did not have the best game, he was lost somewhere. His last pass was often lame.
As for Mykolenko, his game is not worth evaluating now. The man has just recovered from an injury, he is still gaining conditioning. However, everyone is well aware of his virtues. Vitaliy is our leading defender. He will definitely play in Germany, as long as he is healthy.
Taloverov showed a good game. He's still a young guy, maybe he was nervous, and that's why he made mistakes. And Valerii Bondar is the same way...
In Warsaw, we saw a lack of communication between the defense players. There was no chemistry. One was from Everton, the other from Shakhtar, the third from LASC, the fourth from Dynamo. They played in such a combination only in training. They hadn't gotten used to each other. So we have three missed goals because of an elementary misunderstanding between the players.
- Yarmolenko's place in the national team is not being discussed? After all, the man is not 18 years old, but 34. He had a very difficult injury that caused him to miss most of the season.
- This team definitely needs Yarmolenko. Will he be a player in the starting lineup? This is a much more complicated question, because everything will depend on the strategy for a particular game that Rebrov chooses.
If it is an attacking model, Andrii should be involved from the first minutes. If Serhiy Stanislavovych chooses a defensive model, Yarmolenko will probably be a substitute. In general, the Dynamo player showed that he is still able to play at a high level for 60 minutes. And his skills have not disappeared.
- Will Dovbyk be the main striker for the Euro, through the prism of two control matches and the club season? Or will Artem and Roman Yaremchuk have approximately equal playing time and take turns on the field?
- I do not rule out the option that Ukraine will play with two forwards. In general, I think Dovbyk will be Ukraine's main striker at the Euros. He worked hard with Poland, scored a hard-earned goal due to his skill, and scored a lot of goals in Spain.
- In the match against Kadra, the most hyped player in the UPL, Georgiy Sudakov, was not very noticeable. His place in the national team does not raise any questions at all, do you agree or not?
- Sudakov had an injury at the end of the season. He missed Shakhtar's last three UPL matches, so he didn't play against Poland the way he had taught all the fans to do last season. Meanwhile, he played almost the entire game, he was replaced in the 81st minute.
Again, I'm talking about communication between players. As soon as Sasha Zinchenko, Vitya Tsygankov, and Misha Mudryk came on the field, Sudakov played differently, better, because he has a good interaction with these guys than with Malinowski and Sydorchuk, for example.
- The final sparring match with Moldova is ahead. It would be nice to win and go to Germany with a good mood and a winning psychology. or is the result in Chisinau not important?
- Rebrov needs to field a truly combat team against Moldova, the main one, so that the guys feel each other, feel the chemistry. After the game in Chisinau, there will be only six days before the first match at Euro 2024 against Romania.
Yes, I would like to see Ukraine win, because Moldova is objectively the weakest opponent among the three. It is not Poland in terms of level and definitely not Germany.
Viktor Hlukhenkyi
