For the leaders of Ukrainian football, the fall is a real test of strength. Against the backdrop of a tight schedule and difficult logistics, Dynamo and Shakhtar players have to tear themselves apart on several fronts - club and national competitions - and try to produce results everywhere.
Photo by Yuriy YurievThe game program of the past grueling week was summarized by the victory of Dynamo Kyiv in the central match of the 9th round of the UPL over Kryvbas (2:1), the bronze medalist of the previous championship. Thanks to this success, the capital's team took the lead in the standings.
An intermediate but important result of the hard work done by the club services, coaching staff and players!
Before that, Dynamo had just played another European Cup match - the eighth one since the start of the new season. And each time it is a real logistical marathon to and from the field, although in half of the cases, the international games of Ukrainian teams are nominally home games.
"Shakhtar, by the way, has gone on European Cup trips only twice so far, but in between they still did not avoid losing points in the league. Since both UPL leaders have at least six more such exams ahead of them, as well as national team tournaments, their Premier League rivals will have a chance to intervene in the competition for awards throughout the season.
How they will take advantage of this is another question, although Polissia and Oleksandriya are still keeping up the pace of scoring points, second only to Dynamo.
"Dynamo: from match to match
The UPL draw has already overcome a quarter of the distance, and at the same time, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's team has failed to win only one of the eight matches already played. The indicator looks solid, but the coach himself looks at the situation more broadly:
"I wouldn't draw any conclusions right now. We are working as usual, going from match to match. Of course, we rotate the squad: we want all the guys to be in good shape. It is important that each of them has the necessary level of training and a sense of the game. You can control yourself in the training process, but when you go out on the field in matches, you have to show your best. I keep telling the guys that they will never rise to the level of their expectations - they will always fall to their readiness"(Dynamo.kiev.ua, 30.09.24)
During the preparation for each game, Shovkovskyi faces difficult personnel dilemmas, and the meeting with Kryvbas was no exception.
"Dynamo approached the match against the backdrop of a difficult trip to Germany in the Europa League in the middle of the week and with certain personnel problems. In particular, Brazhko, Pikhalonok and Ceballos left due to injuries, while Yarmolenko and Buyalsky just returned to action - they did not even travel to Sinsheim due to injuries"(Footclub.com.ua, 06.10.24).
So, on Thursday, the team played a difficult match against Hoffenheim in the Europa League, and on Friday morning they flew from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airport to Lublin, Poland, where they were scheduled to have a training session. The flight was delayed by two hours, so I had to go to the training almost immediately after arriving at the hotel. Then came dinner and a train ride to Kyiv, and from the station Dynamo went straight to Koncha Zaspa to prepare for Sunday's UPL match with Kryvbas.
As Shovkovskyi jokes, the complicated logistics only add a certain charm to the training process.
"We didn't even have a chance to analyze the last match, as we always do, because we didn't have enough time. But we were still well prepared and in the first half we showed the developments we had"(Sport.ua, 06.10.24), - the coach notes.
It is important to note that compared to the Europa League match, the White and Blues manager released seven new players in the starting lineup against Kryvbas, four of whom - Mykhailenko, Rubchynskyi, Bragaru and Guerrero - did not even have pre-season training with the team (the first three took part in the Paris Olympics, and the Panamanian became a player of the capital's club only a month ago).
Nevertheless, none of them dropped out of the game in a crucial match, and Rubchynskyi opened the scoring in the 5th minute, taking advantage of Guerrero's skillful assist. Such a rotation would hardly have been effective if not for the work that Shovkovsky and his assistants had started in advance.
"Of course, we had to take a closer look at the players who did not go through the training camp with us. It's one thing to see them in other teams, and quite another to see them in the training process ," the Dynamo.kiev.ua website quoted the coach after the game against Kryvbas. " Besides, we understood that we would be working on a tight schedule, and from the very beginning of the season we gave the guys some playing time, tried to distribute the load on all the players. It would have been impossible to pull it off with 11-15 players!
I am satisfied with all our players, their attitude and desire. We are constantly rotating, although everyone wants to play in every match. They are unhappy when they are not played, unhappy when they are changed. But we are a team, we have a result. The strength of the team is in the thinnest ring of the chain. If it stops working, then the whole machine will fail,"(Dynamo.kiev.ua, 06.10.24).
"Dynamo had a significant advantage over the opponent before the break and scored for the second time in the middle of the first half through the efforts of Buyalsky, who converted a penalty kick. The hosts were prevented from retiring with a comfortable lead by a somewhat curious Michavko's 2-1 goal. A one-goal deficit gave Yuriy Vernydub's men a good chance of salvation, and after the game resumed, they made several attempts to upset the favorite. However, Kyiv coped with the opponent's pressure quite calmly and brought the game to victory.
"After two chances created at the beginning of the second half, Kryvbas could do nothing more at Bushchan's goal"(Footboom1.com.ua, 06.10.24).
"It was obvious that Kyiv were a bit heavy after the grueling game against Hoffenheim and the long journey there and back, but in general, the main group is slowly accumulating fatigue (let's not forget about the workload associated with playing in the national and youth teams). And, perhaps, if it were not for Shovkovsky's trademark rotation, the team would have lost more points. On the one hand, the Kyiv coach takes a risk by shuffling his squad, but so far it has worked - Dynamo is going into the international break in first place in the Ukrainian championship"(Footclub.com.ua, 06.10.24), Vlad Myrenko summarizes.
Dynamo is entering the UEFA Nations League competition window with a two-point lead over Polissya and Oleksandriya. The latter failed to squeeze the most out of their encounter with Rukh at home, conceding a penalty in the 7th minute of stoppage time (1-1).
As for Shakhtar, despite a 5-1 victory over LNZ, they are only fourth in the UPL, and their gap with the White and Blues has been six points for several rounds now.
By train, plane, bus...
The fact that Dynamo's victory on Sunday was achieved against the backdrop of a negative result brought back from Germany adds value to the team's victory. Although it was already clear that it would be extremely difficult to get points on the Hoffenheim field on Thursday. First of all, because of the same personnel problems.
Suffice it to mention the candidates for a place in the center of defense: Ceballos is in the infirmary, Dyachuk has just recovered from an injury and is not yet ready to fully help his teammates, the main center backs Mikhavko and Popov are also not in optimal condition and did not even finish the match of the 8th round against Left Bank due to some discomfort.
In addition, Bragaru, who was sent off in the first round of the Europa League, and Buyalsky and Yarmolenko, who were recovering from injuries, remained in Kyiv. The latter two, by the way, are the key and most experienced players in the current Dynamo team.
The above-mentioned troubles only exacerbated the negative effect of the complicated logistics of moving the team and, as a result, the inability to fully recover the players.
Let's not forget that at the junction of September and October, Dynamo managed to play twice in Germany and twice in Kyiv in just 11 days.
"You must understand that the situation in our country adds to our difficulties. We calculated that 19 hours passed from the moment we left the club's base until we arrived at the hotel in Hamburg..." (Football.ua, September 24) - Shovkovskyi shared the details with journalists on the eve of the meeting with Lazio in the 1st round of the Europa League.
Obviously, the road to Sinsheim, where the game with Hoffenheim took place, took no less, if not more time.
"If we take into account all the time spent on the road, we left the day before yesterday evening and reached our destination last night. We had a small training session - I would even say a warm-up, because it is difficult to practice anything after such a long journey" (Sport.ua, 02.10.24), - stated the Dynamo coach.
The players themselves have a similar assessment of the critical situation.
"Of course, when every match is two days apart and you're on the road for 20 hours, it's exhausting. It seems like an excuse, but it seriously affects recovery. It's already harder, we were tired at the end"(Konkurent.ua, 07.10), - Dynamo midfielder Valentyn Rubchynskyi commented on the problem when asked by reporters after the match with Kryvbas.
So can there be a full recovery of players if they spend 40 hours on a round trip to participate in a crucial match? The question is rhetorical...
Such moments really should not be taken as complaints or excuses. It's just that fans and journalists should remember the benefits that our clubs' opponents in European competitions receive even before the starting whistle.
"I would look at the reaction of the players of European teams if their clubs had the same logistics as Ukrainian ones"(Sport-express.ua, 03.10.24), says Viktor Skrypnyk. He played and coached in Germany for a long time, so he knows what he is talking about.
Skrypnyk also assured us that despite their unconvincing performance at the start of the season, Hoffenheim was the favorite in the game against Dynamo:
"Hoffenheim plays in the Bundesliga, which is one of the strongest championships in Europe. There are no easy matches here. Every participant, even an outsider, can trip you up, and every victory is not easy. This team has no star players, but the squad is balanced. And, in the end, the match will take place on their territory"(Sport-express.ua, 03.10.24).
In the end, the hosts won (2-0), taking advantage of the peculiarity of the Ukrainian championship. Pellegrino Matarazzo, the head coach of the German team, admitted this at the post-match conference.
"We tried to press as hard as possible because we knew that Dynamo dominates their league, has a lot of possession and is not used to serious pressure from the opponent. So we wanted to force them into unusual conditions. Our plan worked well, especially before the break"(Dynamo.kiev.ua, 04.10.24).
The first half was indeed dominated by the Germans, who managed to open the scoring after a swift attack in the 22nd minute. However, after the break, Kyiv made an attempt to change the course of events.
"The Dynamo team returned to the pitch much more aggressive and calmer at the same time. Now our players started to apply pressure, and their passing became more disciplined and responsible. At the same time, Baumann's possession became more sharp, but it lacked finishing"(Footclub.com.ua, 03.10.24), - we read in Denys Borysenko's report.
"Dynamo tried to get back into the game by creating chances, but Shaparenko and Guerrero's shots missed the target. Substitutions strengthened the game of Kyiv, but this was not enough to change the result"(Profootball.ua, 03.10.24), - stated Andriy Chuprin.
In the end, Hlodek's double did not allow the White and Blues to leave the field with a shield.
Oleksandr Shovkovskyi reacted to the defeat quite calmly. He set clear accents and noted the angle from which he looks at the current performances of his team in the second strongest club European tournament:
"You need to understand that recently football, like our entire country, has been surviving. It's not about getting better or improving. We must first of all survive! " said the 49-year-old Kyiv coach. "This concerns many issues. We cannot attract qualified legionnaires, we cannot prepare properly. These are objective reasons. In such a situation, in order to become stronger, we need to play with opponents who are stronger than us.
Of course, it is a great experience for us to play against teams representing the top five leagues in the world, including Germany and Italy. We will directly prepare for each game and try to do everything in our power to demonstrate the level we are capable of and ready for"(Dynamo.kiev.ua, 03.10.24).
Observer Oleksandr Sazhko emphasizes in his article that for a certain group of players who regularly participate in domestic competitions, European Cups, and national team matches, the entire gameplay is an endless cycle that "turns into hell." And this cycle is already in its third season!
"There are no robots. The forces are not infinite. If earlier our teams could compensate for a lot with their physical form, now it's the other way around - they are losing here, and they will continue to lose. Because the opponents are objectively in much better conditions, and for our clubs it lasts for a very long time and it is not known when it will end. I would really like the fans and clubs to reach an understanding at least on this issue... Don't forget that the clubs are not competing with you, but with those with whom they play on the field - and this is a huge difference"(Ua.tribuna.com, 03.10.24), Sazhko said.
It is worth noting that Dynamo has been living in a frantic rhythm since the summer. In July and August, the team had to go through a six-week European Cup marathon, and now the UEFA calendar has prepared two grueling Thursdays for the Kyiv team. "Shakhtar have only just begun to face such a tough tournament schedule this season, but still struggled to cope when they met Atalanta in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday.
The Italian club won a convincing 3-0 victory in Gelsenkirchen, and former Shakhtar defender Vyacheslav Shevchuk believes this result is well deserved:
"The guests were stronger in all aspects: in terms of game organization, physical, tactical, technical training... The Donetsk team lost almost all the tackles and rebounds, which is very important in football. For me, modern football is when all players attack and all defend. Unlike Shakhtar, Atalanta showed modern football"(Sport-express.ua, 03.10.24).
According to columnist Maksym Salivon, the Pitmen failed to demonstrate any fighting qualities amidst the inexpressive play. In this sense, the author draws parallels with another Ukrainian-Italian match, the September match between Dynamo and Lazio, in which Kyiv lost 0:3.
"The psychological factor was also evident - Shakhtar refused to fight for the result after the break, and only one yellow card at the end of the game is a clear proof of this. Dynamo's defeat by the Romans certainly didn't smack of hopelessness - Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's players can't be accused of not wanting to "hit the rock" until the last whistle. And this is the main difference in the interim result of the performance of the two kings of the UPL in European competitions against the always uncomfortable clubs from the Apennines"(Champion.com.ua, 03.10.24).
From the Youth League to the League of Nations
Meanwhile, let's recall another current European Cup tournament - the UEFA Youth League, in which Shakhtar's 19-year-old players are already playing (Champions League path), and which will soon be joined by the boys from Dynamo (National Champions Path). Last week, Slovenian Maribor won the right to play Kyiv in the second round, with matches to be held on October 23 and November 6.
"Dynamo is the reigning winner of the Ukrainian Youth Championship, the leader of the current national tournament, and the approach of international competitions is an additional motivational lever for the team.
"We are already looking at the upcoming games of the domestic calendar with an eye on the confrontation with Maribor. We are watching how the opponent plays and practicing some moments in our matches. Of course, this is an additional motivation for the players to gain European experience and express themselves. In fact, our club has played quite a lot and successfully in this tournament"(Fcdynamo.com, 05.10.24), says Ihor Kostiuk, Dynamo U19's longtime coach.
Dynamo's school is considered to be one of the strongest in the old world for a reason, and even the recent match of Kyiv in the Europa League was a clear indication of this. For the game against Hoffenheim, 11 Ukrainians came out at once, most of whom are club pupils!
Against this background, it should not be surprising that seven of Kostyuk's wards have been called up to participate in a representative international tournament in Marbella, Spain, as part of the Ukrainian national team preparing for the November 2025 UEFA European Championship (U19) qualifiers. Dynamo is represented in this team in all ranks - from goalkeeper Viacheslav Surkis to forward Matviy Ponomarenko.
The Spanish tournament starts on Friday, October 11, and on the same day, the national and youth national teams of Ukraine will play official and extremely important matches. The younger team is one step away from winning a direct ticket to the 2025 U21 European Championship, while the main team will continue to fight in Group B1 of the UEFA Nations League for a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.
For both of them, Dynamo remains the base club. Among the players called up by the manager of the "youth" Unai Melhosa for the away match against England include seven Kyiv players. Six more went to the location of the national team immediately after the game with Kryvbas.
This company could have been bigger if Andriy Yarmolenko, Volodymyr Brazhko and Oleksandr Pikhalenko had not been forced to stay home with injuries of varying severity. Instead, Serhii Rebrov will be able to count on Heorhii Bushchan, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Vitalii Buyalskyi, Mykola Shaparenko, Vladyslav Kabayev and Vladyslav Vanat (the final squad was published by the UAF official website - uaf.ua, 06.10.24).
The epidemic of injuries that hit the candidates for the national team forced Rebrov to update the roster several times. In addition to the aforementioned Dynamo players, goalkeeper Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid), defender Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton), midfielders Viktor Tsygankov (Girona), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal), and Ruslan Malynovskyi (Genoa) will not be able to join the team due to health problems. As a result, three potential debutants were called up to the national team on an emergency basis - goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk (Shakhtar), center midfielder Ivan Kalyuzhnyi (Oleksandriya) and winger Oleksandr Nazarenko (Polissya).
Given the presence of a large number of proven but exhausted players, as well as a certain number of newcomers, one can only imagine how difficult a task our coach faces. The coach, who is already going through a psychologically difficult period, because he recently buried his father
We would just like to remind you that the Blue and Yellows, who have not yet scored a single point in their group, will play two nominally home matches in October: On the 11th - against Georgia, on the 14th - against the Czech Republic. The UAF will host both opponents in Poland.
Other aspects of football life in Ukraine
UAF restores justice. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Football Association published on its official website a number of decisions made at a meeting of the UAF's Control Disciplinary Committee. Among them is the reversal of one of the most scandalous verdicts of the previous leadership of the Football House of 2020.
"Having considered the materials on the FFC's appeal against the decision of the UAF Regional Football Development Committee and the decisions of the UAF governing bodies, the SCC approved the settlement agreement concluded between the public union Ukrainian Football Association and the public union Football Association of Kyiv, canceled the decision of the XXIII UAF Congress of June 7, 2020, regarding the exclusion of the public union Football Federation of Kyiv from the UAF members"(Uaf.ua, 02.10.24), - the message says.
Meanwhile, the Football Association of Kyiv reacted to the decision of the SCC even earlier and has already set the date of its Extraordinary Conference, at which, in particular, the organization's management will be elected.
"The Public Union "Football Association of Kyiv" (hereinafter referred to as the PU AFC) announces that on September 27, 2024. The Executive Committee of the CFCU decided to hold an Extraordinary Conference of the CFCU to be held on November 15, 2024... At the same time, the Executive Committee approved the Plan of Preparation for the Conference and the composition of the Working Group for its implementation, headed by the Acting First Vice President of the CFCU O. Bandurko"(Ffk.kiev.ua, 27.09.24)
Bronze triumph of Ukrainian futsal. The Ukrainian national futsal team won bronze at the world forum for the first time in history on Sunday, October 6, defeating the French (7: 1) in the small final of the 2024 World Cup, which took place in Uzbekistan. On the same day, in the decisive game, Brazil was stronger than Argentina (3:2) and won its sixth title.
It will be recalled that in the group stage, Oleksandr Kosenko's wards lost to the Argentines (1:7), after which they defeated representatives of Angola (7:2) and Afghanistan (4:1). In the quarterfinals, the Blue and Yellows eliminated Venezuela (9:4), after which they lost to the future champions Brazilians in a tense semifinal match, 2:3.
The defeat of the French in the bronze medal match was the first time our futsal team had ever reached the world podium. Earlier, in 1996, it had already reached the semifinals of the World Cup, but then finished fourth in the tournament.
In addition to the set of medals, Ukrainian players were also recognized with personal awards. Thus, Rostyslav Semenchenko was recognized as the third player of the tournament and received the Bronze Ball, while Danylo Abakshyn took second place in the scoring race of the championship with seven goals and won the Silver Boot. He also shared the victory with Frenchman Mohammed in the assists competition with six assists.
Immediately after the historic victory, UAF President Andriy Shevchenko congratulated the newly minted World Cup winners:
"I thank the players, the coaching staff, the staff and everyone who contributed to the bronze medal victory at the World Cup. This is a great success and the result of our joint work. In a difficult time for the country, we continue to show our strength and resilience at the highest level. I thank everyone involved once again. We are proud! Glory to Ukraine!"(Uaf.ua, 06.10.24), the Association's official website quoted the head as saying.
The bronze medal of our team is also significant because futsal, as well as beach soccer, may soon be included in the Olympic disciplines. At least such plans are outlined in the FIFA document entitled "Strategic Objectives for Global Football 2023-2027".
"Given the level of participation around the world, FIFA will propose that futsal and beach soccer be considered as separate football disciplines at future Olympic Games" (Footboom1.com, 04.10.24), the document says.
It is hoped that the relevant FIFA plans will be implemented in the near future, and then, perhaps, two more of our teams will be able to compete for tickets to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Orest LELEKA
