Famous coach and football expert Oleh Fedorchuk not only shared his general impressions of the Ukraine vs Belgium match (0:0), but also analyzed the performance of each Ukrainian player for theSbirnawebsite, giving his assessment of each player's actions.
Oleg Fedorchuk- We played our best match at the Euros, but for us a draw with the Belgians meant failure. How would you assess the performance of the Ukrainian national team, in particular their actions when playing with five defenders?
- In general, I have positive impressions of the game against the Belgians. The only thing that confuses me is why we didn't play this formation in our other control matches. We played very well in the first half, constantly attacked and generally looked very decent.
I have always believed that this particular scheme is ideal for our national team, as we have quite active fullbacks and this allows us to attack from the flanks. At times, we looked even more interesting than the Belgian national team. Therefore, the coaching staff played this particular game quite confidently.
- There were moments, but our strikers lacked determination. Is there an explanation for the lack of goals scored?
- Well, Yaremchuk, for example, is generally one of the brightest players in our national team, but he lacks the physicality for two halves. But he worked 100% in the first half. Our forwards had chances, but they were blocked very well by the Belgian defenders.
Especially this defender, with such an aggressive surname Fas, who plays in Leicester. He alone blocked our strikers' shots three times. We can say that, in particular, his desperate play prevented the goal.
Dovbyk acted aggressively enough, but somewhere he lacked skill. Sudakov also had a great moment. It seems to me that this was the chance of the whole match.
Anatoliy Trubin - 7.5
(Sofascore - 7.7, Flashscore - 7.6)
- No mistakes at all. In my opinion, this unfortunate mistake of the coaching staff in the first game with the choice of Lunin prevented our team from leaving the group. This is my personal feeling and impression. I believe that Trubin is currently our best goalkeeper. In addition to playing at a high level, he is also quite confident. Somewhere the Belgians tried to piss him off, the same Lukaku, De Bruyne, but Anatoliy coped with the additional pressure with dignity.
Oleksandr Tymchyk - 7.0
(Sofascore - 7.4, Flashscore - 7.2)
- In general, today is his second game at a solid level. He hasn't even played this well at Dynamo. Tymchyk is one of the brightest players in our team at this tournament. He came as an absolute reserve, and as a result, he played two games in a row very well. Somewhere he was lacking in attack, but in defense he acted confidently and convincingly.
Ilya Zabarnyi - 7.0
(Sofascore - 7.1, Flashscore - 7.2)
- This is the third game he has played at a high level. Zabarnyi is very young, but he has already played so many matches for the national team! You can write textbooks about him, his phenomenon. Ilya is such a psychologically stable unicum who has been playing big football since he was 17.
It seems that he has been defending the colors of the national team for 15 years. At this Euro, he was the most stable player in our national team. There were some mistakes, but they did not significantly affect the course of the game.
Oleksandr Svatok - 7.0
(Sofascore - 6.9, Flashscore - 6.8)
- Looked quite confident. In general, Svatok is an interesting phenomenon. Due to the fact that he left Ukraine for several years for Croatia, he fell out of sight for our fans.
However, I am convinced that he has not yet said his last word in football. It seems to me that he could strengthen Dynamo, which is looking for a central defender. However, it just so happens that Svatko's club career hasn't been going well. And now Dnipro-1 is also in a bad way, which is why he will now play in the MLS.
Svatok has previously demonstrated a good level of play in matches for the national team against England at Wembley, and he looked powerful against Italy. He is psychologically very stable, adapted to playing in a forceful manner. It seems that he was not really counted on for the Euros, but in vain.
Mykola Matvienko - 6.5
(Sofascore - 7.6, Flashscore - 7.4)
- Well, this time it's better than usual. Although there were a few mistakes in the first and second half. However, in this scheme, Matvienko can be insured. And the fact that he came out with the captain's armband for such a game says a lot. In general, our defense played very confidently.
Vitaliy Mykolenko - 7.0
(Sofascore - 6.9, Flashscore - 7.3)
- It was felt that he was still suffering from an injury somewhere else. The fact that Mykolenko played through his strength once again demonstrates his character. Vitaliy has always been appreciated for his intransigence and fighting qualities. He played as well as he could. Yes, he was lacking in the attack, but in defense, Mykolenko worked for all five points. His courage deserves special attention. Nowadays, it rarely happens that players with injuries come out for such important matches.
Vladimir Brazhko - 7.0
(Sofascore - 6.9, Flashscore - 6.8)
- I wouldn't say that he stood out from the rest. Brazhko can play better, but considering who he played against... He completely "turned off" De Bruyne. I think that the EPL selectors should pay attention to Brazhko. If they follow the matches of the national team of Ukraine, they should definitely note Volodymyr's game against Belgium, the ability to impose a fight and close one of the most dangerous players of the opponent.
In general, he was not very noticeable, and his mid-range shots did not work either, but again, we should note his excellent defense. When it was Brazhko who played in this area, there were no dangerous counterattacks from the opponent. And when Stepanenko came on, he lost the fight in the center and there was a two-on-two moment. Taras lacks speed.
Mykola Shaparenko - 6.0
(Sofascore - 7.0, Flashscore - 7.4)
- He was invisible today, and his replacement was good. That game against Slovakia was his best. Against Belgium, Shaparenko didn't drop out, but he didn't prove himself in this scheme either. It was hard for him because he had an additional workload, as he had to defend even more.
Georgiy Sudakov - 7.0
(Sofascore - 7.5, Flashscore - 7.8)
- Sometimes there were quite strange decisions from him. In the first half, Sudakov didn't look very confident, in the second half he was better, and in the end he was very good. I think that the injury at the end of the season knocked him out of the rut, and now he's obviously not in his best condition. This is not the Sudakov we were counting on, who was supposed to be a leader. After Malinowski came on, he started to act sharper and managed to prove himself better.
Roman Yaremchuk - 7.0
(Sofascore: 7.0, Flashscore: 6.7)
- Yaremchuk was more noticeable than Dovbyk, even though he was replaced. Roman had a very strong first half. In general, he never ceases to amaze. For me, it is a discovery that a player who feels so insecure in the club can be one of the leaders of the national team. However, in that dangerous moment at the Belgian goal, Yaremchuk should have taken a shot, not passed it to Dovbyk. He had to take risks and take responsibility.
Artem Dovbyk - 6.0
(Sofascore - 7.3, Flashscore - 6.8)
- He disappointed me a bit. I can't say that Dovbyk failed at the Euros, but I had higher expectations. I know Artem well from Cherkasy, from the Second League. I am very worried about him as a human being, so I wanted more from him. He charmed everyone with his game for Girona, and we believed that Dovbyk would be the best. However, it turned out that he looked even a little worse against Yaremchuk.
Oleksandr Zinchenko - 6.0
(Sofascore - 6.4, Flashscore - 6.7)
- He helped in control, but did not make much of an impact. Zinchenko, as always, was focused on ball possession. However, in this game and under such circumstances, it was necessary to take risks, and he is not ready for individual play. And in general, Zinchenko was not very prepared for this Euro, but his forced exit in the match against Belgium did not spoil the overall picture.
Ruslan Malinowski - 7.0
(Sofascore - 6.8, Flashscore - 6.8)
- He played very well. I immediately felt that with his arrival we became better in attack. Ruslan strengthened our game enough, I liked his attempts to aggravate. Malinowski was quite creative, and I hope this performance will allow him to rely on the trust of the coaching staff in the next matches.
Vladyslav Vanat - 5.0
(Sofascore - 6.5, Flashscore - 6.5)
- He never got into the game. During several moments, Vanat blocked Dovbyk's zone altogether. They didn't understand each other, but it's not very easy to explain: Vladyslav wasn't involved in the team's play and didn't play at all. As for the emotional component, it seems to me that Vanat burned out somewhere. He was the only substitute who did not play today.
Taras Stepanenko - unrated
(Sofascore - 7.0, Flashscore - 7.0)
- Stepanenko was very motivated, but his functional state... Age is showing. He is fine with the ball, not bad in martial arts, but where he needs to move, he has problems. It seems to me that this is one of his last games for the national teams, if not the last. There is a proverb on this topic, but I think it's better to "not touch a dead lion". With all due respect to Taras, he has done a lot for our football, the national team and is a model of professionalism in general.
Andriy Yarmolenko - no rating
(Sofascore - 6.4, Flashscore - N/A)
The same can be said for Yarmolenko. Yes, he had a moment, he could have scored - he didn't risk it. He was not memorable for anything special. Therefore, I do not want to evaluate either Andriy or Taras. I have great respect for them as players who have left a significant mark on the history of the Ukrainian national team.
- Everyone in the group has four points, but we are the worst in our quartet. What are the results of this Euro for our national team of Ukraine?
- It seems to me that our national team thought a lot about the strategy for this tournament. However, such fighting teams as Austria, Hungary, and Romania are playing here and now. And we somehow took the first game lightly, as if we didn't take it into account at all. Although it was the decisive game. In general, at this Euro, many people's opening matches determined their fate.
- Not leaving the group is a failure. But what about the performance itself? What grade does Rebrov's team deserve based on the results of their game at the European Championship?
- On a five-point scale, I would rate our performance at the Euros at 3.5 points. We played to our level: no more, no less. Everyone thought that we had a rather weak group, but in the end each team has four points...
In general, I rate the game at this European Championship higher than the performance at the previous one. Then we scored three points, and we were lucky to move on from third place, not everything depended on us. However, now Rebrov had a better team than Shevchenko did then.
- So you agree with the thesis about the current golden generation of the national team?
- Yes, absolutely. This is the best generation of all time. The only amendment is that it is the best at the time of our game against Italy in the fall of 2023. Then we were really very powerful. And then Tsygankov, Mudryk, Zinchenko, Mykolenko, Sudakov, Stepanenko, Lunin dropped out after injuries. If this had not happened, and we had been in those "autumn conditions," our team would have left the first place in this group.
I think the best times of this generation are ahead. Everything comes with experience. Mudryk got injured because of his stupidity. If you believe the information that he was in the gym, he earned this injury.
- Who managed to "sell" themselves at this Euro? Roman Yaremchuk seems to have shone again. Mykola Shaparenko also proved to be excellent...
- Yaremchuk had a great period at the Euros, but he only sold himself to the United Arab Emirates. I am convinced that Brazhko, Shaparenko, and possibly Tymchyk will add value. The price of Sudakov, on the contrary, should fall. As for Dovbyk, everything should remain the same. Trubin is a ready-made goalkeeper for the top championship. I think he would not be lost in a team from the top 5 of the Premier League. He and Lunin are now on the same level.
I know that one respected journalist said that some of the national team players directly "sold" themselves for the Euro, but I disagree with this. No one sold anything, we played as well as we could. And there have always been players who take over the game and don't see anyone around them. How long have people been saying this about Mudryk, is it news to anyone? In general, we played well, the main mistake was the first game.
- How should the team have acted in that debut game against Romania ?
- We had to go forward, score goals, think about the difference. But we didn't finish the match, threw a white flag... And Slovakia should have scored more. We made a strategic mistake. But it's logical: how many coaches do we have who worked at the European Championship?
- Shevchenko ...
- Andriy Mykolayovych, who was sitting next to me. What would he do, come down and help us get a result?
- Well, Blokhin, perhaps, is not worth calling .
- Probably (smiles). We lack experience - it's normal. This is a specificity of any profession. It takes a certain amount of time to master a trade. For a driver, for example, it takes 10 years, for a player three to four seasons, for a coach five to seven seasons. So there is nothing to be surprised about, everything is quite natural.
Vladyslav Liutostansky
