Former Dynamo striker and now a well-known expert Viktor Leonenko shared his thoughts on the Ukrainian national team's 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic in the fourth round of the Nations League.
Viktor Leonenko- Viktor Yevhenovych, what do you think of the Ukrainian national team's game against the Czech Republic?
- I told Rykun before the match that there would be a draw, but I didn't know what kind. I already call the national team of Ukraine a "maternity hospital" because we give birth to moments and goals. But the game was even, draw and boring. The most important thing, and this is a disadvantage for Rebrov, is that all our leaders, as they call themselves, played the same way as Cake Prague (Czech Republic), although there are no stars there.
Is that why it is difficult for Rebrov? Because our so-called leaders do not help the coach at all! Yesterday I didn't see any leaders on the field at all, everyone was the same! Rebrov says we created a lot of chances, but I don't think so. It means that one of us is cheating, and it's definitely not me. I have all my moves recorded! I've been doing this since the days of Big Football. If someone hits the goalkeeper from the center of the field, it's not a moment.
- But still, who will you give the Lion of the Match award to?
- The answer is obvious - Trubin! We have the best goalkeepers in every match. Thank God, at least there are no problems with him.
- Who would you call the worst player who dropped out of the game?
- Our attack was the worst, so I'll say Dovbyk. We call him a superforward, but he couldn't even show his worth in the match against the Czechs, although this is not Spain, France or England. The guy just disappeared. I saw Dovbyk for the first time only when he took a penalty.
- From the height of your extensive experience as a striker, what advice can you give Dovbyk?
- I advise him to be active, aggressive, take over the game and shoot a lot on goal if possible. Yesterday, Dovbyk played with his back to the goal and if he got the ball, he immediately passed it back.
- What can you say about Mudryk?
- Mishka-70, he is a rugby player, and now I will call him Mishka the corner. I don't understand where he kicks during corners. He can only be noted at the beginning of the game, when he ran and passed to Shaparenko, and the latter made a mistake, and then he probably thought about it all match. That was the only thing Mishka the cornerback did yesterday.
- But he scored a goal against Georgia. Maybe your criticism influenced him?
- My criticism hardly affected him. If you can't, then criticize or give money, it won't work anyway. He should make a difference in every match and score goals from half-chances if he is considered a star. But he doesn't do that.
- What else did you not like about Ukraine's game against the Czech Republic?
- I didn't see any fullbacks in the match, we don't have any! This is because we were pressing, the so-called compact defense. To be honest, I had an epiphany! The Czechs made a lot of passes, both on the right and on the left. Thank goodness the passes didn't reach the goal, because there were a lot of our players in the penalty area. If Srna had been there, he would have found someone. At Shakhtar, he even found various Fakundas, who are hardly strikers, with passes.
- As I understand it, you were not impressed with Konoplya and Matvienko?
- They never impress me! The man with the tattoo on his leg, Konoplya, can sometimes score and boldly joins the attacks, but in defense he was weak and remained so. What can I say if he gave the Czechs an assist? A person with a tattoo of basic rules does not know that you cannot kick the ball to the penalty line! You can kick it towards the offside or to the corner! It seems to me that we tried to play compactly, because even when we made substitutions, nothing changed.
- Lobanovskyi said that the team should have a red-haired player for good luck, and now it 's Konoplya. Do you agree with this opinion?
- It was not only Lobanovsky who said this, this topic often circulates in coaching circles. Oleksiy Mykhailychenko is not a brunette either. But I am not superstitious. The way we play, redheads won't help us. Sports channels can be closed because there is nothing to analyze - there are practically no highlights.
- What do you think of the central Sudakov-Shaparenko connection ?
- It's nothing! How can they be celebrated? Sometimes they are active, but their activity goes nowhere. We had good attacks, but they ended in nothing. This shows that there is no skill. They can run with the ball, but they can't finish. And it's always like that with us! We spend our energy, but there is no sense.
- The Czechs say that the referee should not give such penalties, but what do you think, was it an 11-meter penalty?
- The penalty was random. The Czech played stupidly with his hand where he could have just fallen or run to the corner.
- Did you miss the injured Mykolenko, Tsygankov, Zinchenko, Malinowski in the match against the Czech Republic?
- I don't like the phrase "if only". No one cares how many injured players are missing matches because of cards and so on. These are no longer the problems of our comrades from Prague. These are excuses for the inept.
- The debutant Kalyuzhnyi showed himself well in two matches. Is he a ready-made replacement for Stepanenko?
- It is high time for Stepanenko and Yarmolenko to vacate their places in the national team. Young people have to play! As for Kalyuzhnyi, it's too early to say anything. To do this, he needs to play many matches, not just two games. Nazarenko and Hutsulyak score in every game for Polissia, which I congratulate them on, but we don't see them in the national team.
- Hutsulyak was injured yesterday, he has a concussion.
- In general, I talked about my impressions of both the match against Georgia and the match against the Czech Republic. As for Hutsulyak, I would like to wish him only health. If he has a really bad concussion, he will be out for a long time. Unfortunately, this happens in football.
- How do you assess the tournament prospects of the Ukrainian national team?
- We beat Georgia with only one half-chance and nothing else. If we hadn't beaten the Georgians by accident, it would have been sad. Nothing is lost yet, we can still leave the group by accident. Football is unpredictable, although our team is very predictable.
Looking at how we play, I can say with confidence that this is the most toothless team in history! And here they say the opposite, that this is the strongest team. It's ridiculous! And who is wrong here, me or the players who call themselves stars?
In any case, I wish our team good luck. I want them to start playing and not suffer.
Andriy Piskun
