Famous commentator Ihor Tsyhanyk did not hold back his emotions, criticizing the Ukrainian national team for its performance in the Euro 2024 match against Romania.
Ihor Tsyhanyk"I've never had such a hole in my soul as I have now. You can lose in different ways: worthy or unworthy, but it cannot be heartless. The national team of Ukraine played probably the most soulless match I have ever seen in its history.
We lost without a chance, played so weakly and hopelessly. I am very unhappy that our military, who are defending our country, watched this game of the national team. Because it was not football, it was anti-football. Should the players who took the field bear any responsibility? There was no commitment, no emotion, no nothing.
In recent weeks, I have been shouting that we should not call these players the most talented generation in the history of Ukrainian football. Don't call it the best team in the history of Ukrainian football. Even if it is true, let's talk about it after the European Championship. They don't have the ability to cope with the pressure that falls on them. They do not see what is happening here. The vast majority just play football abroad and have fun. But when you come home and put on a national team shirt, you don't have to talk about it in such loud words. You need to demonstrate it on the football field, you need to work hard for your homeland, which gave you life.
I'm speaking very emotionally, because in fact I have tears in my eyes because of this hopelessness and powerlessness. It's hard to even explain what it was all about. And I understand the fans, because I have never seen a more soulless match in the history of the Ukrainian national team. And it was the weakest opponent in the group, so it will be even harder. We are not mentally ready for the Euro, not ready psychologically. And our opponents in the qualifiers were very difficult to beat, and we never learned how to create positional attacks. A team that closes down creates incredible problems for us. And if they still impose a fight on us... We just got run over yesterday, we lost all the martial arts.
The players of the Romanian national team came out charged. They had emotions, they had the attitude, and our players had callousness. They did not come out to fight for the result, they came out to play football. The match can go differently, you can lose, you can break something, but you can't just go with the flow in a tournament like this when the whole country is rooting for you. You have to give everything.
This is a disaster. Now we need to change the entire lineup for the next match, I can't even single out one player for the last match. We started playing only after 0:3, when the Romanians realized that the game was over and allowed us to play. Before that, we were not on the field. We had an optimal lineup, there are no better ones: players from Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea... the best scorer in the Spanish league played in the center of the attack. What more do you need? We didn't have a team, we had a collection of individuals on the field. Mudryk continues to disappoint: either he runs into a "wall", or he lacks space, or there is not enough field. Everything is a bit lacking, and there is never absolute sharpness.
We saw a set of individuals in the Ukrainian national team, and the Romanians came out to fight, they are a team that came out to play for their country. They had emotions, a mood for the game. Iordanescu simply dismantled our team: we played very tightly with Mudryk, Dovbyk, Tsygankov, and two players each insured. We played academic football, we had no pace. We could beat the Romanians only through individual skill and tempo football. And the Romanians worked very hard on the field for this victory, and they absolutely deserved it. We had some dudes who decided to play football: I stopped, stepped on the ball, we controlled the game. And what did it do?
Our players were very nervous from the first minutes: Zabarnyi, Matvienko, who should not have set up Lunin, but played simpler. The Romanians played very simply, didn't invent anything. Lunin had a fantastic season at Real Madrid, and here... well, play it simple - knock it out. Stanciu made a masterful shot - 0: 1. Do you think we have drawn conclusions? No, it's more academic football: they showed off, showed off and passed across. Where is the forward play? Who started playing until the 75th minute? Explain it to me.
A disastrous result with a disastrous game. I thought it would change, but no - nothing. How the Romanians ran out on the counterattack when they scored the second goal! People were focused on the result. And what about us? There were so many statements that we were playing for our country. And where is the honor? We have no right to concede such goals. And the third goal was just a corner kick! Zinchenko lets his player go and raises his hands, saying that he is offside. How can you take an offside position in the goalkeeper's box? Our stars looked like second-rate players against the Romanians.
No one came out ready for the match. And this is the problem of the coaching staff of the national team of Ukraine, which mentally failed to set the players up for this meeting. But I don't want to blame them alone: they hired analysts, placed chips right and left - let them, it's their right, they need to fix the situation. This is a problem of the players' mentality. Everyone has to understand what they are doing and where they are going, for whom they are playing and what they are playing for. This is a problem. If you lose martial arts, no matter what tactics the head coach draws for you, it will do nothing. The main thing is the fight, there must be a soul. This struggle will allow you to implement the techniques and tactics that the coach suggested. And when you can't gnaw out a simple ball.
If we play the next two matches the same way we did against Romania, it will be a problem for Ukrainian football for many years. Now we need to make drastic conclusions. It's a disaster, but we haven't fallen into the abyss yet, there are still two matches to go," Tsyganik said on Tsyganik Live.
Text transcription - Dynamo.kiev.ua, hyperlink is requiredwhen using the material !
