Legendary Ukrainian coach Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi told what he thinks about the failure of the Ukraine national team in the Nations League-2024/25 (Ukraine - Albania - 1:2, Czech Republic - Ukraine - 3:2).
Vitaliy Kvartsyaniy- Even before the first game in this tournament, I predicted that the Ukrainian national team would gain four points in the games with Albanians and Czechs, having drawn with the former and won against the latter.
However, it turned out that I was completely wrong in my prediction. After two consecutive defeats in the Nations League, Ukraine can only rehabilitate itself in front of an army of millions of fans if it wins all four matches. Personally, I believe in it very much, because if I don't believe, then it will be uninteresting to wait for these games.
We all worried about the Ukraine national team, we hoped and continue to hope. In its performance we saw some promising actions on the field, which our players wanted to realize. Not everything, however, worked out, but the desire was noticeable. As for yesterday's match, I want to say that the current Czech national team is one of the weakest in the last twenty years. There are no stars, leaders and authoritative players who were once - such as Nedved, Poborski, Koller, goalkeeper Cech. That's why it's a pity that we failed to take points away from the Czechs.
- How do you see the future prospects of the Ukrainian national team in the Nations League?
- Now we see that the most progressive of all the countries of the former Soviet Union is Georgia. With the team that plays unconventionally and leads in the group, our national team should meet in the third match of the tournament - in October at the home arena in Poznan, Poland. And in another round - in Tbilisi. It's a pity that according to the calendar the away game with Albania will be in November, otherwise we could go to this country and swim in the sea. The same applies to Georgia. (Smiling). And seriously, we are waiting for difficult games with the Georgian national team.
I am sure they will be quite interesting. Perhaps, individually strong Georgians will run merrily into the attack, and we will use it. After all, all "power" teams, such as Albania and Czech Republic, think about defense, but Georgia is different in its style - it is a technical, improvisational team. Its performance at the European Championships and now two wins in two Nations League matches, where it is in first place in the group, indicates that the rivalry will be interesting. There is hope for a successful outcome in the duel with Georgia, but Ukraine will have a very difficult time.
Dmytro Oliynyk
