The legendary player and coach of Dynamo Yozhef Sabо shared his expectations for the clash between the national teams of Ukraine and Belgium in the Nations League playoffs.
Yozhef Sabо— Yozhefe Yozhefovychu, in League B the Ukrainian national team faced strong opponents, but far from the giants of European football. Do you think our team has matured to compete in League A?
— For me, the Nations League is a puzzle. The national teams have been divided by rankings, mid-level teams cannot face strong opponents, although for them and their fans the arrival of leading teams has always created a celebration. But it is what it is. We need to strive to reach the strongest league. It will be very difficult to do this. Belgium is a top-level opponent. They have players from leading clubs in Europe who not only play there but play key roles. There are a few more players from the local championship now, but they also, including from Brugge, play in the Champions League.
I'll say little about our national team. The head coach attended matches involving our players, knows their potential, and what form they are in.
— The Belgian national team is currently going through not the best times.
— This does not change the attitude towards them. Look where their players compete. Real, Manchester City, Napoli, Arsenal, Aston Villa... Perhaps not all of these players are needed for national team games. If they come out just to go through the motions, our chances increase. But if they show their full potential, we will be in trouble.
— We also have quite a few professional legionnaires.
— And who of them plays from the first to the last minute? Very few. Some warm the bench, some come on as substitutes or are replaced. Only Trubin, Zabarnyi, and Mykolenko can boast of stability.
— These are the defenders, probably the strongest link in our team. What is the weakest?
— I am more worried about the midfielders. Their game determines the order in both defense and attack. And in attack, our team does look unconvincing. Dovbik, in the games I have watched, rarely encounters the ball. He needs to move more because you won't score a goal just by feeling it. He needs to seek the ball, come back, go left, go right. While he is hesitant, opponents will appear and free spaces will open up for our other players. He needs to free himself from defenders, but he does not do this. And that is very bad. Yaremchuk plays little at Olympiacos, Vanat scores in the Ukrainian league, but he is not visible at the international level. Rebrov needs to find a way to solve this problem.
— Perhaps Vanat's time is still ahead?
— I watch football not as a fan. I always analyze and evaluate. And I know what qualities a player must have to play for the national team. He lacks speed, he has no vision of the field. And these are the main qualities that a player of a high level should have.
— Our attacking problems are also due to the fact that the midfielders do not provide the forwards with passes. Also, Mudryk will not be available, and Malinovsky was not called up.
— We will not talk about Mudryk; we know little about what happened there and how doping got into his system. They say he was spiked or he received injections. It's a pity, of course; the boy is constantly progressing, very quick.
Malinovsky is an excellent player. After his injury, he has already returned to the field, played well in the Italian league. He has good vision, he is physically healthy, with an excellent shot, he can change the direction of an attack with one touch by switching the ball to the other flank. He has everything. In the matter of Malinovsky, and he has not always been part of the national team squad, I am not on Rebrov’s side. But he is the coach, sees the game in his own way and has other ideas for strengthening the national team's play. But so far, not everything is working for him.
— In the Belgian team, there is Lukaku — a forward who is hard to get close to. He can score a goal out of nowhere. Who do you think will pair with Zabarnyi in central defense — Matviyenko, Bondar or the more physical Talovyerov?
— Man-to-man marking is now a thing of the past. No one will run alongside him the whole match, nor sit on his back. They will pass to each other depending on the game situation. We have seen that the Ukrainian national team coped with this task in the European Championships.
The attack develops from the left flank, then the right back moves closer to the central area, and vice versa. There always needs to be backup, discipline at the highest level. Otherwise, we end up getting caught out in the central area.
— Many players from Dynamo and Shakhtar have been called up to the national team. However, these teams have lost many points in the championship lately. Is it a sign that they peaked too early for the European competitions?
— Both teams lack quality. If you have territorial advantage, you need to convert it into goals. I can’t say that this is a show-off. Maybe somewhere they lack luck in the final stage of attacks. They do create opportunities. The level has certainly dropped. In Shakhtar, the Brazilians who left at the beginning of the war settled in very strong clubs. They brought in young players, and they still need to grow.
Regarding the Ukrainians, earlier to get into the national team, one needed to be two heads taller than the others. Unfortunately, there is none of that now. The national team players lack quality. There is no escaping that. At least for now. Well, how can it be when a counterattack arises and you need to quickly pass the ball to another player, and you pass it back? Or is it that in a simple situation you cannot control the ball properly? Or the player just rushes around, falls, tackles and that’s it — there is no effectiveness. We see this often.
Modern football is very tough; the opponent will not give you time for two touches on the ball — he is on your heels.
— Yozhef Yozhefovych, last time the playoffs were played as a single match, but with two teams. We then beat Scotland and lost to Wales. Now it’s a tie with one opponent. Based on your experience, which is easier — determining a winner in a single match, or based on two games, home and away?
— Ideally, of course, the second option is better. Because if you made a mistake in the first match, you can rectify it in the second one. If a player did not understand how to play against the opponent, the coach will explain what he did wrong, fifth and tenth. The player can also be substituted for the second game, the tactic can be changed. This is an important aspect.
— The Belgians have a new coach, Frenchman Rudy Garcia. It will be his first game in his new team against Ukraine. Is this a good moment for us or not?
— The team needed to be awakened. In the games I last saw them participate in, I was frankly surprised. The players were not giving their all on the field, hence the poor results. Now their task is a do-or-die situation. They will probably rally and show what they can do. There are very high-class footballers there.
— What is your prediction for the first match in Murcia?
— God willing, it will be a draw. That would be good.
Gennadiy Chekhovsky
