Famous former footballer of Arsenal, Chornomorets, Alexandria and a number of clubs Volodymyr Bondarenko, who now heads Kolos-2, shared his impressions of the match of the 3rd round of the 2024/25 Nations League Ukraine - Georgia (1:0).
- Before this game, the coaching staff of our national team faced a large number of injured players. It is clear that changes in the starting lineup were inevitable, but the appearance of Taloverov and Kalyuzhny surprised many people. And you?
- Maybe only before the game, but the game itself showed that these players are ready to play at this level. You see, Sergei Rebrov sees the readiness of this or that player during training. You need to take into account who you are preparing to play with. To these two guys I can add Hutsulyak, who has played very little in the Ukraine national team before.
As for Taloverov, I liked his determination to fight. You saw how he reacted to his correct actions on the soccer field - he was shouting, waving his hands - he was venting his emotions. I think it is quite normal, it is what helps him in the game.
As for the debut of Ivan Kalyuzhny in the national team of Ukraine, he did the most important thing on the position of the supporting midfielder - he played disciplined and picked up balls. In general, on his example I can say an important thing. Recently, Ukrainian soccer has gone the wrong way. We can not play like the Spanish national team, and some coaches, both in the leading clubs and in the national team, are trying to instill this style of play in us. Ukrainian soccer has always been famous for something else - tactical competence and excellent physical preparation. I think all of our players should play, figuratively speaking, as Kalyuzhny does. Everyone should act in the tackling, lay on the turf, be able to press.
- Did you like the Georgian national team, which performed well at the European Championship, and now in the Nations League has two wins in two games?
- I noticed that all the players who were in the starting lineup of the Georgian national team play abroad. They have two top players - Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia (he will leave for Liverpool in the summer) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. All Georgian players are technical, it has always been so. French coach Willy Sagnol managed to establish discipline and forced his charges to give their best.
As for the last game - the Georgian team created only one goal at Trubin's goal, it was in the first half. I think it was not the best game for the Georgian national team this year.
- Everything in this match was decided by Mudrik's goal. What do you think of Mikhail's performance in this match?
- He has not played much in Chelsea lately, he is rarely substituted. In the game with Georgia it was obvious that Misha tried hard, he ran a long distance, took shots, shot on goal. I think that there is a lot of mistakes in his game. Often he goes around when he doesn`t need to. Due to his strong qualities he scored the winning goal. I will remind you that in the goal attack he first lost the ball, but Sudakov made a tackle and threw Mudrik into the breakthrough. This is the only way to win. Everyone must play in the selection. In English Chelsea coaches see Mikhail every day, you can get an opinion about this or that performer by trainings. I am sure that Mikhail is working on himself to become stronger.
- Our national team played for zero, which doesn`t happen very often...
- I agree. Our goal decided a lot here. When the score was 1-0, our guys rolled back a little bit, played with a low block. At times our outside midfielders returned to the defense and helped the defenders. We saw that the Georgian team didn't have many chances to really test Anatoly Trubin's class. I think that this is our way in European soccer - not to let our opponents show their strong qualities and look for their chance in counterplay.
- Recently, criticism of Sergei Rebrov has increased. It is clear that in defeats it always happens, but there are a lot of dissatisfied fans and soccer experts....
- All over the world, the main criterion is the result. In my opinion, Sergei Rebrov is a top coach. Before the European Championship there was a lot of talk that we had a top team, top players. Everyone's expectations were too high, they were simply overestimated. But it is not true, we have average players. Look - Zinchenko does not play much at Arsenal, Mudryk sits on the bench at Chelsea, Yaremchuk did not always play, then at Valencia, and now at Olympiacos. Zabarny and Mikolenko play in APL, but in clubs that are fighting for survival.
Since June we've had deafening defeats to Romania, Albania and the Czech Republic. Do these national teams scream that they have great players playing? No. Everyone has learned how to play soccer. Under such a barrage of criticism, it is not easy for Sergei Rebrov to coach the team. But he has to go through it too. Our head coach should be given time. In my opinion, in his coaching staff it is necessary to remove some people who only bring down Rebrov, lead him to the wrong place.
- Who, in your opinion, was the best player of the Ukraine national team in this match?
- I would single out Ivan Kalyuzhny. He is 26 years old and he is a pupil of Dynamo Kyiv. During his career he has played anywhere, even in India. Rebrov knew him even earlier, that's why he entrusted him a place in the starting lineup. Ivan stood out in the center of the field, he was lying on the turf, made a lot of tackles and interceptions, he was useful for the team. Overall, it was a memorable debut for Kalyuzhny in the main team of the country.
