Former Ukrainian national team player Kyrylo Kovalchuk analyzed the main problems and difficulties of the Ukrainian national team and explained what to expect from the October matches against the Czech Republic and Georgia.
Kyrylo Kovalchuk- Kyrylo, in September, our national team started the League of Nations. What do you think of the results and the team's performance in the matches against Albania and the Czech Republic?
- I believe that since the start of the full-scale war, the performance of our national team has gone downhill. At first, there was a failure when the national team of Ukraine failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (they lost to Wales 0:1 - ed.). There was one and another coaching change... But it hasn't led to anything positive yet.
The last success was with the national team led by Andriy Shevchenko. And now we are already afraid of the match with Georgia. We don't know what to expect from it. I remember that earlier, when we played Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia, we were always calm about the result (in the 90s and 2000s, Ukraine lost points in official matches with all of these rivals - ed.) And now we are afraid of Georgia. Imagine, it has come to the point where Georgia is a favorite in a match with us.
- We're probably afraid because the Georgian national team is on a high rise right now - Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze, Mamardashvili...
- It is clear that Georgia is on the rise, but the Ukrainian national team should not lower the bar below its level.
- Currently, the level of such teams as Albania or Georgia has increased significantly. Many football people talk about this. It is very difficult to beat them now.
- But at the same time, we listen to our experts, who unanimously tell us that Ukraine is the favorite! It was the same before the European Championship matches with Romania and Slovakia. But for some reason, we did not look stronger in the game. This also remains a question mark.
Yes, according to the potential of the players we have, according to the statements we heard before the game - what kind of mood we have, how we will go out and play, we seem to be stronger, but on the field everything is different. As a result, we lost to Albania and the Czech Republic. We need to look for and definitely find the reason why this is happening.
So far, I don't see how we can improve in the short term. Although there are still two more cycles until the end of this year for us to somehow level the playing field and stabilize the game. In fact, everything can still be fixed, nothing terrible has happened. We still have a lot of games ahead in the League of Nations, where we can get maximum points.
-What do you see as the problem of the Ukrainian national team?
- Right now, the biggest problem in the national team is the performance of our fullbacks. They fail in every match. They also lack sharpness up front. They run the wrong way and fail from behind. But in modern football, a fullback is a great force. The team that has fullbacks who can defend well and attack well is the one that is successful. Take the top football clubs in Europe: here, wingbacks provide both speed and workload. And we don't have this at all.
Here I see a big problem for the national team. Our wingbacks will either hit the goal or somewhere else. When you see a team on paper, you think - this is strength. And then you see them on the field - these are other people.
- But not only the defenders, even the wingers, have "cooked"?
- Goalkeepers, in general, are a separate topic. People talk a lot about Mudryk. It is clear that everyone expects him to become the team leader, but so far he hasn't.
- As a former player in the support zone, tell me, does the national team have any problems in this line?
- I don't see any problems in this area at all. The middle of the field is very high quality. Strong players play there, they play well. If we take the games of the European Championship, then both Sudakov and Shaparenko played well there. Everyone noted how well Brazhko entered the game. We are a little weaker in attack, we can't score in some places. Once again, for me, the biggest problem of the national team is the fullbacks.
-Who is responsible for the second goal that our team conceded to Albania?
- It was definitely the defenders' mistake, as they didn't understand the play and didn't pass the Albanian player to each other. I don't want to talk about goals right now, we need to look at the situation as a whole, not just some fragments.
I saw that in the game with us, the Albanian team was sharper in attack. They had more obvious chances than we did. For example, when their player missed the ball from two meters after a shot. We're not saying that our team shouldn't concede, that they should only play at zero. Of course, there will be dangerous moments at our goal. But when a team like Albania creates 5-6 chances for us, and we only create 2-3, what can we talk about?
And then the coach changes half of the team for the game against the Czech Republic - we have changes in every line, but no result. We go from one extreme to another.
- Let me ask you as a former player of the Ukrainian national team. What are our guys feeling right now?
- I understand, like any other former professional player, what they are going through, what they feel, what they are going through, what kind of decline they are going through. Of course, it is more pleasant to train and prepare for games when you are in a good mood.
However, no one criticizes them from all sides! To be honest, we have no criticism of the national team players and have never had any!
- Why is that?
- Because our press and players are so close and respectful of each other that they don't want to spoil each other's relationship. Well, tell me honestly, where is this criticism? Where is the criticism that someone somewhere just said that our players played badly? We lose 0-3 to Romania - well, they scolded the players a little bit for that. What kind of criticism is there?
There is criticism of football players in all other countries. Take Brazil, for example: if something goes wrong, everyone gets it. And there is criticism from other countries from all sides. We don't have anything like that here. If you see this criticism here, I personally do not.
- Do you think that in a situation like this, players and coaches should be treated more harshly?
- No, I don't. I'm talking about something else, about supporting the national team. The fact that after everything that happened to our main team in the last games, we still continue to believe in it. We try not to put psychological pressure on them. I can't say that there is any pressure on the players - there is definitely not.
We are in a situation in our country where no one has time to criticize the players. Given that our national team is forced to play all its matches in other countries, we don't have a fan sector either. There are no people who could exert some kind of pressure on the players, ask them something.
Oleksandr Petrov
