During the past week the press focused on transfer news of the leading UPL clubs and continued to discuss the performance of the national team at UEFA EURO 2024. Two "junior" national teams were also in the spotlight...
Photo — fcdynamo.com"Dynamo sets benchmarks
Most of the Premier League teams came out of vacation at the end of June, having started the pre-season preparation. As a rule, the first part of the training camp is the work on physical conditions, which, however, does not prevent from holding control sparring.
Thus, Dynamo Kyiv played with Ingultz at their base in Vite-Litovska and won a convincing victory 4:0 (the goals were scored by Bragaru, Pashko, Lonwijk and Popov). Shakhtar played their second game at the Slovenian training camp - 1-1 against Croatian Hajduk (Traore scored for the Pitmen). And Kryvbas, who are also based in Slovenia, left a good impression in the sparring against Dinamo Bucharest - 2-0 (Tverdokhleb and Zaderaka).
And, of course, the clubs are active on the transfer market, strengthening their squads for the start of the new season. Analyzing this topic, the press unequivocally recognizes the transfer of 22-year-old midfielder Valentyn Rubchynskyi from Dnipro-1 to Dynamo as the main transfer of the week.
Here is what, for example, ex-coach of Dnipro Oleksandr Poklonskiy says about it:
"With his performance he proved that he is already ready to demonstrate a high level. Valentin needs a little more confidence and experience in the game. I think he is stronger for his potential than Yarmolyuk, who was sold to English "Brentford" (Ua.tribuna.com, 03.07.2024).
In the context of Kyiv's purchase of Rubchynskyi, a number of media outlets suggest to take a closer look at Dynamo's work in the transfer market this summer.
The 23-year-old Colombian defender Brayan Ceballios, rented from Brazilian Fortaleza, is definitely of interest. He, as the media believe, has all chances to become a prominent figure in the center of defense of Kyiv, which will open the season with a duel with Serbian Partizan in the Champions League qualification (the first match - July 23).
Everyone who has studied Ceballos' style of play pays attention to his high speed, tenacious tackling and good head play. There is, however, an alarming moment - sometimes he is too aggressive in the tackling, often performing risky jumps in his own penalty area. But this moment can be eliminated, and the Dynamo coaching staff will surely work on it during the training camp in Austria, where the team left on July 7.
"Seballios is a centerback with a very interesting set of playing qualities, which can help him to reach a high level of performance in European soccer, - Oleksiy Slivchenko shares his opinion. - However, we will have to work with him, first of all, on the mentality and psychology. If Shovkovs'kyi and his staff manage to make Seballos act more calmly and calmly, demonstrate mature soccer, then Dynamo can really get a tough foreign center-back, which they did not have, perhaps, since the time of Domagoj Vidi" (Sport.ua, 02.07.2024).
It is also important that Dynamo will not lose anything in case of Seballios, even if he will not be to the court. As Slivchenko specifies, the Blue-Whites have very competently conducted negotiations with Fortaleza:
"The Kiyan management agreed on a format of the agreement that is not ideal from the point of view of risk assessment - a quintuple lease with an optional buyout. This will give Oleksandr Shovkovs'kyi the opportunity to first assess the potential and ability to progress Seballos, and then, if necessary, to talk to the management about the feasibility of investing money in his transfer. Dynamo bosses can be praised for such approach" (Sport.ua, 02.07.2024).
In cases with other Dynamo newcomers - Maksym Bragaru, Oleksandr Pihalenka and Valentyn Rubchynskyi - we are talking about full-fledged transfers and long-term contracts. But here Dynamo knew very well who they were buying and why. For example, 21-year-old Bragaru is considered one of the fastest and most technical players in the UPL and can play winger on either flank or left-back. And 27-year-old center-half Pihalenok is creative, able to lead the team's play, deliver the ball to the strikers, a great long-range shot and experience.
"Dynamo's transfer campaign of this summer is horrifying," Oleksiy Nikitin writes. - The selectors of the capital grand won all the talents of the previous seasons of the UPL. Each of these players has proved himself in the championship and in the teams of different age categories... "Dynamo is looking for reinforcement on the domestic market" (Ua.tribuna.com, 03.07.2024) .
It is characteristic that Dynamo's work in the transfer market received flattering assessment not only from the media, but also from the fans, which is noted by several websites at once.
"Fans of Oleksandr Shovkovs'kyi's team are positively impressed by the transfer campaign of the capital club this summer. They wrote about it in the comments to the post about Rubchinskiy's transfer in Instagram", - we read on Sport-express.ua (03.07.2024).
That is, in Dynamo's acquisitions there is a certain strategy and direction on strengthening the competition among the players for a place in the team's core.
What about Dnipro-1?
Analyzing the events in the transfer market of UPL, the press, of course, pays attention to other teams that are preparing to represent Ukraine in European cups.
The newswires have reported that Shakhtar have returned the 26-year-old Brazilian midfielder Pedrinho, who played for Atletico Mineiro in his homeland for the last two years, and now, presumably, will add variation to the Pitmen's midfield.
"The Brazilian moved to Shakhtar from Portuguese side Benfica in the summer of 2021, after which he played 19 games on the pitch, scored four goals and made four assists," recalls Zerkalo Nedeli (Zn.ua, 07.07.2024).
They also discussed the newcomers of Kryvbas, which is to make its debut in the Europa League (from the third qualifying round).
"Agreements with the club laid zahisniki - 24-year-old Igor Snurnitsin, 21-year-old Bakari Konate and 23-year-old Oleksandr Drambaev, as well as the attacker 22-year-old Oche Ochovechi" , - specifies the site Kamyanske.com.ua (05.07.24).
Snurnitsyn and Drambaev do not need any recommendations, the media state. Both have long been on the radar in the UPL, and Snurnitsyn, in addition, has a gold medal at the U-20 World Championship. As for Malian Konate and Nigerian Ochovechi, these players went through the school of Portuguese soccer ("Salgueiros" and "Feirense"), and there, even in the second division, just for the pretty eyes do not bring foreigners.
What is interesting: Kryvbas signed contracts with all newcomers for terms of three to four years. That is, we can conclude that the club is working on a long-term perspective.
A similar opinion is formed about Polesya, which is preparing for its debut in the Conference League (its opponent in the 2nd round of qualification will be Olimpija from Ljubljana). Only here everything is bigger in terms of quantity. On Tuesday, the Zhytomyr club presented the ninth summer rookie - promising defender Serhiy Korniychuk.
"Gennadiy Butkevich gathers new Polissya, " - stated journalists of the website "Ukrainian Football". - All signings of "Polissya" in the summer of 2024: Oleksiy Gutsulyak from Dnipro-1; Danilo Beskorovanyi from Kryvbas; Georgi Maisuradze from Dinamo Tbilisi; Sergiy Korniychuk from Minayu; Matej Matić from Lokomotivi Zagreb; Evgen Volinec from Dnipro 1; Ruslan Babenko from Dnipro 1; Vialle from Iltuano; Admir Bristić from Olimpija Ljubljana.
It should be noted that apart from the new players, Butkevich signed a new head coach - Imad Ashur". (Ukrfootball.ua, 02.07.24).
As for Dnipro-1, which last season also earned a European Cup ticket, everything is still sad and uncertain. The club is very close to ceasing to exist because of funding problems.
Almost all the key players have already left the team. However, the proceeds from transfers are not enough to pay off debts for 5 months and to make a full budget for the new season.
This follows, among other things, from the words of the honorary president of Dnipro-1 Yuriy Bereza:
"...I can say that there is a big problem with the investor. It is categorical and critical. That is why I am ready to consider all conditions and proposals for a new investor. I am ready toleave the post of honorary president, leave soccer and transfer all legal rights to the one who is ready to vryatuvate the club" (Football24.ua, 03.07.24).
The media speculate a lot about what could be the way out of the situation. The key question was: who will replace Dnipro-1 in the UPL if the club is forced to withdraw from the competition?
Most sources are inclined to believe that most likely, instead of Dnipro-1, Minai will return to the UPL. Especially since the precedent has already taken place.
"Recall, in the season 2021/2022 "Minai" was also ranked 15th and was also relegated to the First League. Then Obolon dropped, and the Transcarpathian team was returned to the UPL, referring to one of the clauses of the regulations of the championship. It is likely that this time everything will follow a similar scenario. Themanagement of the Uzhgorod club is ready to budget the season-2024/2025 in the UPL" , - writes Maxim Kachurovskyy (Expres.online, 01.07.24).
But if Dnipro 1 really ceases to exist, Ukraine automatically loses one of its representatives in the Conference League even before the start of its draw.
"We are watching with interest the development of events in Dnipro-1 and in the Ugrian Academia Pushkash, which Dnipro won't meet in the Conference League. If the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk team will be out of the distance before the end of the season, the Ugrians will go further, even without going on the field ," recalls Sport.ua (05.07.24).
Such a scenario, of course, would not want to allow. But in any case, even if Dnipro-1 gets out of this situation, its European Cup prospects will look very dim. It's two weeks before the first match with the "Pushkash Academy", and Dnipro haven't even started the training process. And who to play there now?...
Euro-2024: another reality
If the club European Cup trials are just on the way, the European Championship in Germany is coming to the finish line. There, the semifinalist pairs that continue the fight for the trophy have been determined: Spain - France and the Netherlands - England.
According to the media, in the playoffs, everything goes quite naturally - without obvious sensations. Although, let's say, England reached the quartet of the strongest just by a miracle - in the 1/8 finals Garrett Southgate's wards escaped defeat in a confrontation with the Slovaks only thanks to the masterpiece of Jud Bellingham in the last minute of the main time (in the end 2:1).
By the way, like Slovakia, two other opponents of Ukraine in Group E were eliminated at the same stage: Romania lost to the Netherlands (0:3), Belgium lost to France (0:1).
"Group E is the only one, all participants of which have already departed from Euro 2024. None of them have made it past the 1/8 finals," Tribuna caustically noted after the first round of the playoffs (Ua.tribuna.com, 02.07.24).
But is this a reason to judge that the Ukrainian national team failed to get out of the weakest group of EURO 2024? Such a judgment looks like an obvious manipulation. At least because there are no weak teams at the World Cup. The example of Georgia is evidence of that.
Another question is why Serhiy Rebrov's team left the tournament earlier than expected? Of course, it is difficult to offer an unambiguous answer. There is rather a complex of reasons. Including injuries of key players.
On the other hand, we should talk about the lack of mood for the starting match with the Romanians and the problems with concentration. This topic continues to be mentioned not only by journalists.
Here, for example, is a very revealing quote from Ukraine forward Artem Dovbik:
"It's time to summarize the results. I want to say a few words about Euro ... If we take the team performance, the last two games have shown that such a tournament requires concentration from the first minute and throughout all matches" (Football.ua, 04.07.2024).
The same conclusion is made by Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi, suggesting that our players were a little cold by the control match with Moldova, which became for the Ukrainian team the last rehearsal before UEFA EURO 2024:
"The Moldovans allowed the Ukrainians to do everything they wanted on the pitch. On the one hand, this match gave all the players a chance to prove themselves on the pitch, and that's good. On the other hand, we lost concentration for the next match. Theharmony of tactics for the match against Rumani did not work (Vln.media, 05.07.2024).
At the same time, everyone remembers that our national team was one of the youngest at UEFA EURO 2024. And the ability to maintain concentration directly depends on the experience of the players. Thus, now the desire and ability to rethink these lessons and, taking into account the mistakes made, to adjust the preparation for the World Cup-2026 - through the soon-to-be-launched League of Nations - comes to the fore.
This is the mood of the head coach of the Ukrainian national team Serhiy Rebrov, who on the official website of the UAF summarized the preliminary results of the performance in Germany.
"It is still important for me to explain why it was so in the game in Rumania... We sorted out with the players that first match and in another, with Slovakia, showed a different motivation. The same applies to the match against Belgium... Now we need to analyze all the mistakes and start preparing for the autumn matches in the League of Nations. We must take into account the experience we have gained, and successfully start the first full-cycle for our coaching staff on behalf of the national team," - Rebrov is quoted by Korrespondent.net (05.07.2024).
In a similar vein assesses the results of UEFA EURO 2024 and UAF president Andriy Shevchenko, who gave an interview to the Italian Corriere della Sera:
"The team made a mistake in the first match against Rumunia, then well reacted, losing against Slovakia and playing in the bottom of the table against Belgium, but it was not enough. As it turned out, there is no right for a mistake" (Football.sportnews.com.ua, 04.07.2024).
However, as Shevchenko specified, in Germany the task was set not only to show the result on the field. Important was also the social mission of the national team of Ukraine, whose country is fighting a bloody war with the Russian aggressor for the third year. And in this aspect, as Andriy Nikolayevich believes, everything planned has worked out.
"We wanted to show the reality in which we live, and we succeeded. We brought to Germany an interactive installation of the Sonyachny stadium in Kharkiv, which was destroyed by Russian missiles. As of today, 500 sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed as a result of attacks, including 77 stadiums. And the names of the national team were telling about their destroyed cities..." - Dynamo.kiev.ua websiterebroadcast Shevchenko's words .
"Ukraine now lives in a different reality. But our fans were celebrating the victory over Slovakia and were very saddened by the loss. Soccer - moments of excitement and positive emotions. We have created a history with footage of soldiers playing soccer in base camps and even on the front line! Soccer has a great power in our country, we hope that it will help us to create" Dynamo.kiev.ua (04.07.2024).
Youth takes the baton
The current soccer summer turns out to be unusually busy for our national teams. On the way - two more final tournaments with the participation of Ukrainian players, and in the top of international events on the pages of the media, the second position after EURO 2024 is occupied by the Olympic Games in Paris, where we will act as debutants.
The leitmotif of the week was the discussion of the team, which is headed by Ruslan Rotan. The press literally savored the names of our foreign legionnaires and leading players of UPL teams, who could be involved in the Olympic team.
"The website "Ukrainian Football" has retraced the labor reserves of the Ukrainian national soccer team to reveal:
- two unrealistic p'yatirki, for which Rotan should not have expected;
- a realistic match, which we could really expect;
- an unsupervised match, about which nobody said much, but for free", - so, for example, begins the opus of journalist Artur Valerko (Ukrfootball.ua, 04.07.2024) .
The topic was also heated up by the assistant head coach of the Olympic team, Yevhen Gres, who compiled a symbolic team of players who were not included in the application form. Ruslan Rotan himself did not avoid the topic:
"Unfortunately, we have problems with preparation for the tournament. Every day there are clubs, which send sheets that they will let their players go before the Olympics. I would like to ask the coaches of these teams. Canyou please tell me how to prepare the team in such a situation and hold international sparring under the Ukrainian flag?", - Sport24.ua (03.07.2024) quoted the coach as saying.
As a result, there was not a very healthy excitement around the team, although everyone initially realized that it was simply impossible to put together an ideal lineup! Olympic soccer tournament is not included in the international calendar of UEFA, so clubs, going to the start of the new season, are not obliged to release their leading players at the first request.
This is a situation where everyone is interested in finding a reasonable compromise. And any criticism of club managers and coaches is completely inappropriate. They have their own interests and their own plans: they are preparing for official (national and European Cup) tournaments, participation in which, incidentally, is also the prestige and interests of the country. So, who could be released - they were released.
"Why to represent our country at the Olympics is a masterpiece, but not in the European Cup? European Cup is watched by the whole Europe. A good performance there will also bring a lot of attention to the Ukrainians. Moreover, the rating is more important for us now. If anyone has forgotten, I will remind you that we have already reached the point where the first place of the UPL does not have a place in the group stage of the Champions League", - Oleksiy Nikitin writes in this regard (Ua.tribuna.com, 04.07.2024).
And former Karpaty player Igor Khudobiak believes that the first and foremost questions should be put to the players themselves:
"It's a shkoda that some players were able to go to the Olympic Games, but they don't go. It would have been a lifelong memory for them. Itseems to me that the soccer players themselves should have been more reluctant to do this for anyone, because it is a very serious story" (Nv.ua, 04.07.2024).
There is certainly logic in this judgment. Thus, Khudobiak cites the situation with Benfica as an example: for some reason, the Lisbon leader Nicolas Otamendi has agreed with the club on his trip to the Games-2024, where he will represent Argentina, while our goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin - not.
"Nicolas is a captain of the Lisbonians, for the past season played 51 matches in all tournaments for Benfica", - specifies Artur Valerko. - Probably Benfica can do more without Otamendi at the start of the new season than without the main goalkeeper. We treat it this way" (Ukrfootball.ua, 04.07.2024).
However, no matter how it was, in the end, Rotan had a competitive enough squad at his disposal.
The promising goalkeeper Kirill Fesiun, who recently moved from Kolos to Shakhtar, the pairing tested at the Youth World Cup in the center of defense Maxim Taloverov (LASK, Austria) - Arseniy Batagov (Zorya), Maksym Hlan from Polish Lechia, Dynamo's Maksym Bragaru, Valentin Rubchynskyi, Mykola Mykhailenko, Pitmen's Oleh Ocheretko, Dmytro Kryskiv, Daniil Sikan, Oleksiy Sych, Oleh Fedor and Igor Krasnopyr from Rukh.
"There will be no catastrophe or apocalypse at the Olympiad. We have a very good team. And there is no need to think that other opponents will play with the strongest squad. They will also do without the leading players," Serhiy Tishchenko wrote on this occasion (Sport.ua, 01.07.24).
"The Ukrainian Olympic team is well-staffed. All players are obliged to represent our country well at the tournament in Paris. And if someone is laying a cushion for future unprofitable result, he has nothing to do in the team," echoed his colleague Oleksiy Nikitin (Ua.tribuna.com, 04.07.2024).
The media are convinced: the Ukrainian Olympic team simply must qualify for the playoffs from the group with Iraq, Morocco and Argentina (to do so, it must take at least second place). And the coaching staff has time and good conditions to establish game connections.
According to the official UAF website, the team's training camp started on July 8 in France, in the town of Saint-Paul-de-Dax, where our team will be based during the Games. The plans include two sparring matches: with the Olympic teams of Egypt and Paraguay. Well, the starting match of the Olympic tournament is scheduled for July 24.
By the way, the media note that the calendar of Rotan's team is quite convenient - we start with a match against Iraq, then meet with Morocco, and in the last round we play with the favorite of the group - Argentina. And here it is important to take into account the experience of the national team - to start with utmost concentration and focus on the result.
The same applies to the youth national team of Ukraine, led by Dmytro Mykhailenko, which these days is preparing for the start of the final part of the European U-19 Championship. Her opponents are also going, so to speak, in ascending order - Northern Ireland (15th), Norway (18th) and Italy (21st).
"Very important will be the starting game - with the hosts of the tournament from Northern Ireland," warns Andriy Kudyrko. - The U19 national team has only played in the final tournament of the European Championship in this age category for the last 20 years, but do not underestimate the hosts, who will have additional support from the stands. This match should be won without variants, and then switch to the much more powerful Norway" (Zbirna.com, 05.07.2024).
The regulations of the tournament, which involves eight teams divided into two groups, the official UAF website reminds us:
"Two of the best teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, and the top trophy will be played on June 28 at Windsor Park in Belfast. The match for the third place is not scheduled, but for the fifth place - will be held, because the five representatives will delegate Europe to the World Cup 2025 among U-20 teams, which will be held in Chile with the participation of 24 teams. Also, the winner of the match between the third teams of the groups will be added to the four semi-finalists" (Uaf.ua, 07.07.2024).
As for Mykhailenko's choice of personnel, there are no special questions. In principle, all the strongest players of this age category have been called up. Most of them, as the media pay attention to, represent the champion's squad of Dynamo Kyiv - goalkeeper Vyacheslav Surkis, defenders Taras Mikhavko, Nazar Balaba and Oleksiy Gusev, midfielder Andriy Matkevich and the top scorer of the Ukrainian U-19 championship Matvey Ponomarenko.
"We were in touch with the footballers during the last month. The boys have a fighting spirit, they all want to work , - media quoted Dmitry Mykhailenko. - I think our coaching staff has studied the opponents well. Now the main thing is to bring all our thoughts to the players, and they - to use it on the soccer field. We set the team maximum tasks, but we would like to make it to the U-20 World Cup" (Footclub.com.ua, 04.07.2024) .
The last time the Ukrainian U-19 national team made it to the final tournament of the World Youth Championship (already in the U-20 category) was in 2019, then winning one of the most prestigious trophies in world soccer for the first time.
Viktor ZHURAVLEV
