Prominent journalist Serhiy Tyshchenko shared his thoughts on the youth team of Ukraine’s loss to peers from Kazakhstan (1:2) in the opening match of the Euro 2025 qualifying round.
“The U-19 youth team of Ukraine lost to its peers from Kazakhstan. We have never lost to the Kazakhs in football at any level. The problem with the 2006 birth year is much deeper than the disgraceful defeat to Kazakhstan. A year and a half ago, this same team, but with a different coach (Yuriy Moroz), failed during the elite round in Cyprus.
After the war began in Europe, there was a great interest in Dynamo players (Pashko was somewhere in Spain, Kalin in ‘Sporting’, Ponomarenko in ‘Slavia’). The Kyiv club had to make significant efforts (including financial) to keep them. When players aged 16-18 have their pockets full of money, it does not always work to their benefit. Having been in Europe and having good personal conditions, they somewhere consider themselves stars. Mentally, they are already players who do not always have high motivation.
The progress of these players is very low. Zakharchenko just started playing in 2024 for U-19. Korobov played on the right flank of defense, although he is a center-back by nature. Dykhiy had a serious injury last season. Osipenko, Bilyi, and Ishchenko are very unstable.
If earlier there was a trio in attack Kalin — Ponomarenko — Pashko, now all three have their own problems. Kalin missed a lot of last season due to injury. In the summer, he went for experience in adult football in Odesa, where he plays at the U-19 level. Pashko was in training with the first team in the summer, got injured, and just returned now. Ponomarenko has returned after injury. He did not play in August and September. There is no significant progress. Although the club hopes that 3-5 players from this generation will emerge for the first team.
Other clubs with the 2006 cohort are doing poorly. At ‘Shakhtar’, there is only one Tsukanov. At ‘Rukh’, only the goalkeeper Bakus. There were interesting players in ‘Dnipro-1’, but they have all lost their way. There are staff problems. There is simply no right-back. On the left flank, there is only Dykhiy. One of the potential leaders of this team, Sinchuk from ‘Metalist’, is injured. There are no alternatives to Ponomarenko in attack. And Matviy's form currently leaves much to be desired. There is no significant reinforcement in Europe. It is good that they resolved the issue with Bauman and there is still Len'. Perhaps Rozzuvaïlo will come someday. This is very little compared to even 2005, or even 2007 or 2008. We could have had a completely different team if ‘Dynamo’ had not kept its team in 2022. There would have been no warm baths, there would have been competition,” wrote Serhiy on Telegram.