Former Dnipro-1 head coach Oleksandr Kucher shared his impressions of yesterday's 2-1 victory over Morocco in the second round of the 2024 Olympic Games group stage.
- Alexander, how do you feel about the positive emotions from Ruslan Rotan's team?
- I really liked the match. It was great. It was a dynamic game in which both teams really played, ran, strived for victory. There was no so-called closed football. And most importantly, it was our guys who won in the end.
- Hand on heart, was Ukraine lucky or did Ruslan Rotan's team really work hard to win?
- How can I tell you... In the first game against Iraq (1-2), we were unlucky, and in the match against Morocco, on the contrary. There is a result that our team needed.
I repeat, our guys fought for the victory and achieved it - this is the most important thing. To win in the minority in such a match is worth a lot.
- What was the key?
- After Volodymyr Saliuk was sent off, Ukraine did not sit tight in defense, but still tried to play attacking football.
So we really had to work hard to win. And there was a bit of luck involved.
- In the match against Morocco, the main central defender of this national team, Maxim Taloverov, who "brought" a penalty against Iraq, started the game on the bench. Is this a disciplinary punishment from Rotan?
- Probably so, but it's hard to say for sure, because only Rotan or representatives of his coaching staff can answer this question. You need to be inside the team to know such nuances.
- Who was the best in the match against Morocco in the national team of Ukraine? Joker Rotan and the author of the winning goal, Ihor Krasnopir?
- In general, I would not like to single out anyone personally. As for me, it was the team that won. Everyone who was on the field fought for the result.
I don't like to single anyone out, but Fesyun worked wonders in goal. Kirill had a very good game.
- In both games at the Olympics, the Ukrainians earned a penalty kick in their own goal. Is it just a coincidence or a consequence of some nervousness among our defense players?
- If we are talking about the match with Iraq and the penalty that Taloverov earned, it was just his positional mistake. Maksym did not work as well as he should have. He fouled. That's all.
And in the game with Morocco, eleven meters into our goal, it was a more team mistake, a tactical one, we did not hold the line.
- After the first game with Iraq, there were many questions to the head referee Ismail from Sudan. And it's not just about penalties. How do you like the work of Mr. Martinez from Honduras?
- There was a penalty kick, if it comes down to it. And the referee did not give it immediately, but carefully watched the video replay and only then pointed to the mark and also showed a straight red to Saluku. Both decisions were correct, no questions asked.
In general, there were no particularly controversial moments in the match, so the referee did his job, if not perfectly, then definitely well.
It was in the Morocco-Argentina match that there was a shitty situation. I have never seen anything like it in my entire career, what happened there with a goal scored and then disallowed and the replay two hours later.
And there are video replays at the Olympics. However, for some referees, it seems that they need another VAR for every VAR.
- The tournament situation in our group, the intrigue of who will make it to the 1/4 finals of the Olympics, is as unclear as possible. All the teams have three points and relatively equal chances of success, but Ukraine has to play in the last match against the favorite of our quartet, Argentina. Any chance of defeating Javier Mascherano's team?
- Morocco beat Argentina, and we beat Morocco. So why don't we defeat the Argentines as well? We have the chances and we have faith in this Ukrainian team.
Ukraine was not inferior in the game to Iraq, even though they lost, or to Morocco.
Yes, Argentina is the favorite, but as the Olympics showed, it is not an ideal team, to put it mildly. I don't think we should be afraid of them. I don't see any problems for Argentina to win (Laughs).
I don't think that Rotan will change his tactics much in the upcoming game and field, say, five defenders. Most likely, there will be the same scheme as in the first two matches: 4-5-1.
What is the point of playing from the defense? A draw will not suit us, given the tournament schedules, because Argentina's goal difference is better.
Viktor Glukhenkyi