The new head coach of Ukraine’s U-17 youth national team, Oleksandr Sytnyk, spoke about the team’s gathering and shared his plans for the near future.
Oleksandr Sytnyk (photo: uaf.ua)The U-17 youth national team of Ukraine (players no older than 2008 birth year) has completed its gathering in Croatia. During this time our team played two friendly matches, drawing with Turkey (1:1) and winning against Greece (4:2).
— Mr. Oleksandr, first of all, I would like to ask, how did you receive the offer to lead the U-17 national team of Ukraine, and how long did you contemplate it?
— Such invitations are not pondered for long (smiles), since for any coach it is a prestigious job to coach the national team of Ukraine, the best players, in my case — born in 2008. This offer seemed very interesting to me, and for my career, I believe it is a step forward.
— Your work began, one might say, from the middle of your career. Did you get to know the team during the gathering?
— Since the youth teams of Kyiv's Dynamo and Donetsk's Shakhtar participated in European Cup matches, not all players from these teams could be released. Therefore, we urgently had to find replacements for them. I knew some players better beforehand, others less, but already directly in the course of the work and friendlies, I got acquainted with the whole team.
— The squad has significantly changed compared to the qualifications. Again, is this related only to the absence of Dynamo and Shakhtar players?
— Yes. After all, this gathering was planned in advance, and at that time the dates of the UEFA Youth League matches involving Ukrainian teams were still unknown. We waited until the last moment for responses from the clubs on who they could release to the national team.
— What direction does Unai Melgosa require from the coaches of youth national teams?
— We should have one vertical for the national teams. He pays attention to what this should all look like, what points should be emphasized in preparing the players so that they can easily transition from one age to another, regardless of who is leading a particular team.
My job as a coach is to help players develop so that they can go through this process painlessly and, of course, strive to achieve the best results in national teams.
— Summarize the gathering during which the Ukraine national team drew with Turkey and won against Greece.
— First of all, I can say that the gathering was fruitful. We played against opponents who also advanced to the elite round. Therefore, it was interesting to see ourselves against strong teams. And for me as a coach, it was essential to see the strengths and weaknesses of my players in the context of the official matches in March. We gave all the players a chance to play approximately the same amount of time.
As for the friendlies, against Turkey we played with a man down for almost one and a half halves due to a red card. However, the Ukraine national team looked decent; the Turks created almost nothing near our goal. We were active without the ball and still tried to impose our game, pressed, and could have scored more.
The match against Greece also didn’t start well for us. In the 6th minute we conceded a silly goal, and while the team was recovering from the shock, we failed to defend well on a set piece and conceded the second goal. But it’s very important that the guys didn’t stop, but continued to act in the manner we agreed upon before the game. Our activity helped to turn the tide of the match, and we went into halftime with a draw. At the beginning of the second half, luck smiled at us when our opponents scored an own goal. The game then became fairly even, but before the end of the match, we managed to score another goal.
Our coaching staff received enough information. We saw what we need to work on in both individual and team aspects. Now there is time to analyze everything, look at how the candidates for the national team are performing at their clubs, and prepare well for the qualifying matches.
— Can you already say how much you have decided on the squad that will go to Croatia?
— First of all, we hope that everyone will be healthy. We have an expanded list that includes about 40 players, and we will make an effort to monitor all of them. So at this moment I cannot yet say that anyone has already booked a spot in the delegation. I told the players that it all depends only on them. The best performers at that moment will go.
— There’s a month left until the start of the qualifiers. How much information do you have about the opponents?
— There’s never too much information. Although at the moment it is lacking for the simple reason that it’s currently unknown what squads our opponents will field. During our gathering, there were some Croats, but again, it’s hard to say whether it was a squad close to the main or experimental. Therefore, there is a little time; we will study and analyze. I believe our analysts will find the maximum necessary for a thorough study of the opponents. I believe that by the March matches we will be fully prepared.
The U-17 youth national team of Ukraine placed in group A1 of the second round of qualification for Euro-2025 U-17 along with Italy, Croatia, and Slovakia. It has been determined that the mini-tournament will take place from March 19 to 25 in Croatia. Only the group winner will advance to the final tournament.
