Yuri Vernidub: “I took a walk around Kyiv: life is bustling, music is playing, someone is dancing — this is literally happening

The head coach of "Kryvbas", Yuri Vernidub, after the match of the 10th round of the Ukrainian championship "Zorya" — "Kryvbas", evaluated the start of the season for his team, shared his impressions about the performances of clubs and the national team in Europe, and also about peaceful life in Kyiv.

— Yuri Mykolayovych, "Kryvbas" is again playing at the "Dynamo" stadium named after Valery Lobanovskyi. On October 6, your charges lost here to Kyiv "Dynamo". How have these two weeks been for "Kryvbas"?

— Indeed, we lost to the Dynamo players. We did not lose "Dynamo" on the field. I am not afraid to say this. We looked no worse than Dynamo. We could have taken points then.

During the two-week break, we worked quite well, played a friendly with “Oleksandriya”. We received information by conducting a control game, it was important for us. Currently, we have a lot of injured guys. We can compare the squad of "Kryvbas" last year and this year — these squads are different. In defense, we have only Ponededynik and Bandeyra, who played last season as well. The rest of the players are new for our team. We need time to balance everything in defense. Romanchuk and Dramabayev play on the flanks for us. Kuzik has been moved from attack to defense because we have Dibanho injured. But I am satisfied that we worked a lot and beat Zorya.

— Did you beat the Luhansk players in the game?

— Yes, that’s 100%. We missed so many chances. The hosts had only two moments, and if we hadn't won here, it would have been some kind of nonsense. I wouldn’t understand our defeat today.

The first half was more or less equal, although Sosa could have scored twice. Everything changed at the beginning of the second half when Sosa opened the scoring. And literally right after that, Sosa hit the post, Amoroso hit the crossbar of the goal. Kozhushko, who came on as a substitute, had good chances to score. But Zorya's goalkeeper Turbayevskiy played excellently, I liked his game.

— Who in the Kryvbas lineup played well?

— All our guys played decently. Whether we win or lose — it is the whole team that does it.

— This week "Shakhtar" will play a match in London against "Arsenal", and "Dynamo" in Rome against "Roma". When will the Ukrainian giants start shooting at the opponent's goal and maybe even score goals?

— Kryvbas played in the qualification of European cups in the summer. We felt all this from our experience, I mean logistics. I don't envy "Shakhtar" and "Dynamo" — they play all their matches away. These travels just kill the players both psychologically and physically. We have to endure until we change anything. I really want our Ukrainian teams to score points in Europe. When the war ends with our victory, then we can demand something from our guys.

The same situation is with our national team. Everyone was shouting about how strong our team is; we can reach the semifinals at Euro 2024. Were there such discussions at the beginning of summer? And now, in autumn, the team has only to drop down to League C while performing in the Nations League. And that would be a real disaster. I am sure that it is not easy for the players to play when rockets are hitting your country, you can't sleep well. I would also like to say words of gratitude to the legionaries who come to play in Ukraine, including for our team.

— You live and train the team in Kryvyi Rih, where it is very dangerous every day. Could you compare life in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv, for example?

— When you arrive in the capital of Ukraine, it feels like there is no war here. In Kryvyi Rih on Saturday, rockets flew near the bus station, this is the center of the city. People suffered, unfortunately.

On Saturday I took a walk around Kyiv. After leaving the hotel, I got to the "Arsenal" metro station — life is bustling there, music is playing. Someone is dancing — I do not understand this, it is literally happening on the bones of our soldiers.

If you want to drink — buy a bottle, sit at home, drink, but make sure no one sees you and go to sleep. But to do this publicly — I do not understand it. I say this because at the beginning of the war, for almost five months, I was there where it was very scary.