Yozhef Sabo: "I didn’t watch the last 15 minutes of the match after they scored a penalty against us – I turned off the TV"

The former head coach of Kyiv Dynamo, Yozhef Sabo, shared his impressions of the Nations League match between the Albania national team and the Ukraine national team.

— I didn’t watch the game for the last fifteen minutes after they scored a penalty against us – I turned off the TV because I was very nervous. I tuned in right at the end of the match, five minutes before the final whistle. I found out it was 2:1 and listened to the commentator’s report that the Albanians completely controlled the ball, holding it 64 percent of the time!

I don’t understand Rebrov: why substitute Shaparenko?! He is not in shape – something is happening with him, something is wrong… In one episode, he passed the ball between his legs to an opponent, and in another – again to an opponent. And not long before the moment that preceded the penalty decision, Shaparenko also played poorly. He should have been sitting on the bench in this match, instead, they substituted Zinchenko, who at least could have provided a pass, held the ball and performed other useful actions. And after that – that’s it, we collapsed!

— What do you say about the first half, where the game unfolded in quite a different scenario?

— Our guys played great! In the first half, they seemed to steamroll the Albanian team. Perhaps the Albanians came out thinking: “We’ll at least draw and have a chance for second place.” If that was the case, they were mistaken. The Ukrainian national team proved in the first ten minutes that they were only aimed at victory, scoring two goals. Overall, the first half was the complete opposite of the second.

— You already mentioned Mykola Shaparenko. How do you assess the performance of forward Roman Yaremchuk, who, unlike the match against Georgia, played from the first minutes yesterday?

— Although he didn’t create anything specific, he worked well in defense. And he worked quite well, he tried. But after the first substitution in the middle of the second half (which was Shaparenko), then the second – it all went downhill… Yaremchuk was replaced by Dovbyk, but he couldn’t create anything serious.

— Yet, under the pressure of the active Albanians, who seemed to have been replaced after the break, Ukraine managed to hold on.

— The boys who came on as substitutes starting from the 76th minute – Sych, Dovbyk, Nazarenko, and Talovyerov – together with those who played from the very beginning of the match somehow managed to hold on to the victory. Although I must honestly admit: I thought that our team wouldn’t win under such pressure from the home team. That’s why I turned off the TV. But God allowed everything to end well for our team.

— Many specialists note the surprisingly high-quality game of Illia Zabarnyi, who looked very confident in defense. Do you share the same opinion?

— He has grown in skill – and a lot. Illia plays well in tackles, in duels – both on the ground and in the air, he passes well, shows courage, and confidently moves forward. Zabarnyi is a completely different player – not like before. I think he might be taken by Bournemouth soon, say, Real Madrid or Manchester City. After all, he is very good right now.

Andrii Pysarenko