The head coach of Lviv's Rukh Vitaliy Ponomaryov shared his thoughts on the preparation of the Ukrainian national team for the next matches of the League of Nations - against Georgia (October 11) and the Czech Republic (October 14).
Vitaliy Ponomarev. Photo — fcruhlviv.com- Does the epic with Yarmolenko's non-arrival and the publicity around it hurt the team a lot?
- This is the prerogative of the head coach, he directly makes decisions and is responsible for the result. There is nothing surprising for me. In my opinion, the national team needs to be gradually rejuvenated, to give young players a chance to integrate into the team.
- Will the absence of Zinchenko, Mykolenko and Malinowski be a serious problem for us?
- We need to be grateful to Zinchenko and Malinowski, who have done a lot for this team, but young guys are knocking on the national team, and they also need to be given the opportunity to prove themselves. Kryskiv and Sudakov will look no weaker than Ruslan and Oleksandr.
- Can the newcomers to the national team replace the veterans who are on sick leave?
- Yes, they are. Bondarenko probably deserved to be on the main list with his performance in Shakhtar's last league matches, but every coach has his own vision of the game model. You can be the best at the club, but not fit into a specific game model or have powerful competitors in the national team at your position.
- Can the invitation of players who do not represent Shakhtar or Dynamo serve as an additional incentive for players from other clubs to prove themselves in the domestic arena?
- This is a positive step. Nazarenko or Hutsulyak deserved to play for Polissia when they were challenged. Martyniuk from Oleksandriya shone at the Olympics and made people talk about him by playing for his club. We shouldn't forget that the youth national team of Ukraine has a good selection of players, which showed great results in the Euro 2025 qualifiers.
- We see new faces up front, although our defense line is generally considered a weak link.
- To play in the national team of Ukraine, you need to be ready for it. I am against it when it is done artificially. In the center of defense, you need to try different combinations that can play at a high quality level. If you have everything in order in defense, then you can play more confidently up front.
-Which players from your team, Rukh, could help Serhiy Rebrov's team ?
- In my opinion, Oleksiy Sych could get at least into the reserve list. He could compete with Tymchyk, Konoplya, Karavaev. The same applies to Vorskla's Krupskyi, who has every chance to cover this position for a long time.
- Is it worth using the League of Nations to test the newcomers and put all your efforts into the 2026 World Cup qualifiers?
- Given Ukraine's performances at Euro 2024 and the first matches of the Nations League, there is now an opportunity to integrate new players into the national team who can become its faces for many years to come. In my opinion, there are players whose time in the national team is running out and it would be right to give young guys who can be trusted a chance.
Oleksandr Karpenko
