Football journalist and expert Andriy Shakhov commented on the victory of the Ukrainian national team over Georgia in the Nations League match.
Andriy Shakhov"After two rounds of the Nations League, our national team did not have a single point, and the team that was considered the main favorite to win the tournament before the start of the tournament was in last place. According to the regulations, the winner of the group is promoted to the main division with the strongest teams in Europe, and the outsider, on the contrary, goes down a step, so the Ukrainian national team faced not elite rivals, but even weaker ones. Instead, the Georgian national team, with whom our team played on Friday, has already been called the favorite. The Georgians started with two wins and reached the playoffs at the recent Euros.
Despite the large number of people who could not help the team, Ukraine won. For this reason, two new names appeared in the starting lineup: wing midfielder Hutsulyak, for whom it was his second match for the first team, and center back Kalyuzhny, who made his debut. Both did not spoil the porridge. And the only goal was scored by Mudryk, perhaps the most criticized player in the national team recently. Objectively speaking, I can't call the game bright and the victory convincing. I believe that Ukraine was not superior to its opponent, neither team created any chances, and at the end of the match, due to a gross goalkeeper error, we almost lost the victory. The offside call saved us.
Nevertheless, three points were gained, and after the first round, the Georgians and Czechs have six points each, the Albanians and ours have three points each. Ukraine is still the last, as it lost to Albania, but you must admit that absolutely nothing has been lost. On Monday, Ukraine "hosts" the Czech Republic, and in November we have games in Albania and Georgia. They will decide everything," Bankova Mail quoted Shakhov as saying.
