Famous commentator Ihor Tsyhanyk assessed the performance of the Ukrainian national team in the first playoff match of the Nations League against the Belgian national team.
Ihor Tsyhanyk«This was Rebrov's best half as the head coach of the Ukrainian national team or even the best 20 minutes in his career. What the Ukrainians played during this time was a masterpiece. We faced one of the best teams in Europe, which may not be having the best time right now. We weren't just brushing them off or defending; we attacked. This is the best possible outcome.
Under Rebrov, we had previously won in a tough style, but those were teams of a different level. I didn't think Rebrov would field four defenders. Speaking about the first half, it wasn't very successful. Sudakov as a left winger didn’t fit in very organically. Zinchenko under Yaremchuk was also not quite in his position. And the right defender played in a way that neither Konoplya nor Sychey played. Because there is qualification.
In the first half, we lacked speed. The only one who could provide speed was Tsyhankov. But even he isn't phenomenally fast. We wanted to catch Belgium off guard, but it didn’t work out, then we fell back and couldn't transition from defense to attack. We lacked speed in counterattacks. We conceded from a simple situation. There was a straightforward cross where De Bruyne threw the ball with his hand and hit Lukaku's head. Perhaps we needed to mark him personally rather than positionally. We have big problems with set pieces,» said Tsyhanyk in his program.
