Dynamo U-19 head coach Ihor Kostiuk commented on his team's victory against Kryvbas.
- Congratulations on your confident victory! Was it easy today?
- From the outside, it might seem, given the 4-0 score, that the victory was easy. But in fact, it was due to the considerable efforts of the players, who set themselves up for this game accordingly, because the Kryvyi Rih team is quite strong, fast, and has quality players who fight well and close their positions, so it was not easy to open their defense.
I'm glad that the guys listen carefully and do what we agree on the field - turn on the speed, don't lose in desire, fight, and in the end it brings results, because if you make maximum efforts, do what we agree on, it translates into our goals.
- Since the beginning of the season, the team has been playing well and performing well. How satisfied are you with the work of your players in general?
- A coach can never be completely satisfied, but the competition that we have in our team now gives motivation within the team, which allows the coach to use many players. When there is competition, you don't need to cause this motivation. The players are self-motivated, because each of them understands that if they don't do something on the football field, someone else will play instead of them tomorrow. In this regard, I am glad that we have such a team now.
- Does the desire to play in the UEFA Youth League add motivation to the boys in the Ukrainian championship matches ?
- Of course, because we are already looking at these games with an eye on the matches against Maribor. We watch how the opponent plays and work out some moments in our matches. Of course, this is an additional motivation for the players to gain European experience, to express themselves, because Dynamo Kyiv has played quite a lot and successfully in this tournament.
- Between the two matches with Maribor, Dynamo is scheduled to play Shakhtar, which means three important games in a row. Isn't this schedule too difficult?
- This is football, we will gradually prepare for each of these matches - both Maribor and Shakhtar are important matches. We have enough depth in the squad to distribute our strength for both the league and European competitions.
- Matviy Ponomarenko scored his first goal after returning to the pitch today...
- Yes, it was important for him to score a goal, but he is still very far from his ideal form, even if we are talking about 50 percent of it.