Famous Ukrainian coach Oleh Fedorchuk commented on the draw between Dynamo Kyiv and Salzburg Austria in the away match of the Champions League qualifying round.
Oleg Fedorchuk- Once again, Dynamo concede first, and then fail to realize their chances. What do you think of Shovkovskyi's team's performance in the return leg against Salzburg?
- I really liked the fact that Dynamo's coaching staff drew conclusions from the previous game. In this match, there were practically no mistakes that Kyiv made in the first match. They played quite reliably in defense, the team felt the game, but lacked skill in attack. Shaparenko did not look very confident. Pikhalonok has not yet found himself in this team. It is felt that they have a lack of understanding of each other.
In general, this match showed that Dynamo - both the team and the coaching staff - has very good potential, there are enough young and promising players. I am very pleased that Shovkovsky's team now consists exclusively of Ukrainians, most of whom are Dynamo's graduates.
- However, Dynamo is now a Europa League team, not a Champions League team?
- Yes, we are not yet up to the Champions League. But there were times when Dynamo was weaker than it is now, but played in the Champions League. We can say that Dynamo were not very lucky with the draw. "Salzburg is a very uncomfortable opponent because it is similar to Shovkovsky's team. The Austrians are also a very fast team that does not prioritize possession of the ball.
In the first match, the young Dynamo players overestimated themselves a bit, but they can be praised for their performance in the second game. I really liked Dynamo's game, they played better than Salzburg and should have won. If the score had been 1-2 in the first match, they would have had a much better chance of going further. As a coach, I'm pleased to see that Shovkovskyi draws the right conclusions from failures.
- And what do you think of the experiment at the end of the match, when Vanat moved to the right flank of the attack, and Supryaga acted on the edge?
- There is no novelty here, because in his youth and on loan Vladyslav has repeatedly acted from the flanks, from the depths. But the move is interesting. It just shows that Shovkovskyi does not work by templates! The fact that he decides to make such a move at such a difficult moment deserves a positive assessment. At the moment, I am impressed by Shovkovsky's work, although at first, I confess, I was skeptical.
- How would you generally assess Dynamo Kyiv's progress in the Champions League qualifiers?
- Dynamo surprised me. The team is perfectly prepared functionally, and I should note the work of the coaching staff. Kyiv look better than Kryvbas and Shakhtar. One of the indicators is that Dynamo have almost no cramps at the end of the match. The second indicator is that Dynamo always wins the game.
This also shows that we underestimate the people around us. Very often, our clubs look abroad and say that everything is better there - this primarily applies to Shakhtar. They say that the assistants there are better than our head coaches and so on. Now Shakhtar have had a bad start to the season, and their players have not shown themselves at either Euro 2024 or the Olympics. Instead, Dynamo will soon become the base club of the Ukrainian national team, like in the days of Lobanovsky.
We must understand our level. Our championship is held during the war, the matches last three to four hours, the guys travel by bus and still look decent at this level... This indicates a very high level of professionalism of the players and coaching staff.
Vladyslav Liutostanskyi
