The Ukrainian national team has played another friendly in preparation for Euro 2024. In Warsaw, the Blue and Yellows lost to Poland with a score of 1-3. Sport Arena asked former national team midfielder Oleh Shelayev to assess the match, Ukraine's performance and the prospects of Serhiy Rebrov's team.
Oleg Shelayev- Were you surprised by the starting lineup of our team in the match against the Polish national team?
- It should have been. Let me explain. The main squad played with our strongest opponent in preparation for the Euros - the German national team. These guys had to feel the power of a strong opponent. The second game, against the Polish national team, is a chance to test our reserve. These are the players who do not play much in the national team - Bushchan, Taloverov, Bondar and Sydorchuk. But in Chisinau, I believe, we will have a completely optimal lineup.
- Most of the leading national teams have two sparring matches before the European Championship. The same German team, if we take its starting lineup for yesterday's match against Greece, always made two changes in the starting lineup compared to the game against Ukraine. Maybe we should have played with the same team?
- The situation is different here. On June 7, the German national team held its last rehearsal before Euro 2024. A week before the opening game against the Scots, the Bundesliga coaching staff is playing the optimal lineup. And that's right. We have a game against Moldova on June 11, and here we need a full squad before the match against Romania, which will take place on June 17 in Munich.
- Let's move on to the match in Warsaw. In the 30th minute, we were already losing 0:3. No one expected this.
- Yes, this score was due to our mistakes. Objectively speaking, we lost justifiably. Our players did not aggressively engage in the fight. We lost a lot of fights in various trifles that were not trifles. First, Taloverov failed to win the fight against the opponent at a corner, then Yarmolenko allowed Zelinsky to shoot from outside the penalty area without obstacles. At this point, it seems that Bondar wanted to play the ball with his head, but did not do so, and Bushchan did not react to this shot at all. The third missed goal was Zubkov's poor play after a corner - Romanchuk completely outplayed him. Many of our players were not concentrated, and this is one of the problems that this match revealed.
- Do you think Georgiy Bushchan realizes that he still won't play in the European Championship, because we have Lunin and Trubin , who are almost impossible to push aside now ?
- I think Bushchan is a winner in life. He has a winner's mentality at Dynamo. But he sees European football. This season, Andriy Lunin and Anatoliy Trubin are playing fantastic games. And against the German national team, Trubin was on par. Everyone understands this. In Warsaw, Bushchan often played on the line, he did not leave his goal. We need to manage the defense more. Although later on, Heorhiy did not give up and helped our team out several times. If you ask our fans to rank our three goalkeepers, Bushchan will undoubtedly be in third place.
- All coaches always like the defense line to be played. However, the combination of defense players in Warsaw, for the Ukrainian national team, was experimental. We may never see this again...
- I am sure it was a conscious decision of our coaching staff. It was necessary to give Bondar and Taloverov a chance to play in the first team for the first time. And to check Tymchyk. And Mykolenko came out for the first time after his injury. We have a choice of defense players.
- Serhii Rebrov is well acquainted with the capabilities of Sydorchuk and Yarmolenko from his time with Dynamo. Why do we need to test them here?
- At Dynamo, he worked with them for a long time, and here Serhii Stanislavovych saw them in training. Sometimes you need to let them play to get answers to certain questions. This way, the tension in the team is relieved. For example, if Yarmolenko had scored three goals for the Polish national team, everyone would have said that Andriy should play in the starting lineup for the Euros. And it could not be otherwise. Yarmolenko has a lot of authority in the team, but everything happens in its own time. He is always ready to play for 20 minutes.
- Let's move on to the positive. Dovbyk's goal was scored in his trademark style.
- Yes, it was. A good pass from Malinowski, he improved his position in one move and hit the corner of the goal. At such moments, Dovbyk is deadly for the opposing defense.
- A year ago, Artem played for Dnipro-1, where you work now. Did you expect him to become the best scorer in La Liga?
- No, I didn't. He left the UPL as the top scorer to join Girona, which has never been one of the leaders of the Spanish championship. And no one could even think about Girona playing in the Champions League. Artem needed to understand the mentality of the Spaniards. It's hard to score goals in La Liga. At first, he had a lot of competitors. It is clear that everyone expected him to score, but not so many! In the first season, he was entrusted with the right to take penalties. From my own experience, this rarely happens in a new team. And even in another country. The same Serlot, his competitor, did not take penalties at all. Dovbyk was trusted - and this is very important for a football player.
- Is Artem our number 1 striker now?
- Yes, he is. He is the undisputed leader in the attack. I think that now we have seven players who will play in the main squad at the 2024 European Championships without alternative. But there are questions about 4 positions.
- It seems that our problem is the left back. Zinchenko lost his place in the Arsenal first team, and Mykolenko did not play for almost a month and a half due to injury.
- I believe that Zinchenko will be put in the lineup for Romania. When Mykolenko is medically ready, only then will he be put in the starting lineup.
- How do you like the performance of Sudakov, who was also injured in early May?
- If we all take away the starry-eyed expectations from him, if we don't look at the fantastic price tag, we will see that Georgiy is a very high-quality footballer. I like him very much. In terms of movement, as far as intense football is concerned, he is a quality player. Sudakov makes mistakes, but he skillfully moves the ball between zones, he knows how to beat opponents. Everyone writes that he is worth 50, 60 million euros. They are waiting for him, in Spain, England, Italy. This is all hindering him now.
- Can such a defeat create tension for Serhii Rebrov and his coaching staff?
- He saw some good, positive moments, as he said in his post-match commentary. It was evident in both teamwork and individual actions. Dovbyk acted well, our attack created tension at the goal of the Polish national team. The reserve players felt the game rhythm. We need to build on this. I think that only three first-team players played in Warsaw in the starting lineup. In my opinion, these are Sudakov, Dovbyk and Mykolenko.
- What do you think is the reason for the choice of the Moldovan national team in the final sparring match? Aiming at Romania?
- No, it's not. This is a weaker team than us. We need to beat them before the European Championships to prepare for the continental forum in a good mood. Will we score a lot of goals against the Moldovans? I don't know.
- Will the Ukrainian national team be able to make some noise at the European Championship?
- It all depends on the first and last game in the group. Everything will be decided with Romania. It is important to start with a victory and confidently approach the second game against Slovakia. The Slovaks might lose their first game to the Belgians. Then everything will be in our hands.
But it will be difficult with Belgium. This team is strong in itself, and if we only need a victory over them to get out of the group, it will be difficult. But I think we have good chances of getting out of the group. Let's not forget that in addition to the two best teams, the four best third teams in the group advance to the 1/8 finals.
