Former player of the Ukraine national team Oleg Shelaev shared his impressions of the return playoff match of the Nations League for the right to participate in Division "A" Belgium — Ukraine (3:0). Recall that, on aggregate of two matches (3:1, 0:3), the Ukrainian national team lost in this confrontation.
Oleg Shelaev— There was an idea for this match — to keep our goal intact, and for that, the appropriate scheme was chosen, — noted Shelaev, − But in this case, one must understand — will we hold out or not — it’s just a question of time. Even before the break, the Belgians had real scoring chances, and it was good that they did not score. However, when the first ball flew into Lunine's goal, the Belgium team received the necessary momentum — energy and excitement increased, and that was at a time when our defense began to gradually lose strength.
— The starting lineup of the "blue-yellow" was eloquent — everyone in the bus!
— Yes, we went out to play with five defenders, hoping to concede as few as possible, and in front, we tried to catch the Belgians on the counter-attack. Considering that in the center we had players like Kalyuzhny and Yarmoluk, it was hard to count on speed breakthroughs, as to properly accelerate an attack, one would need to sprint 50−60 meters... An important, even critically important, issue was the physical fitness of the Ukraine national team for the rematch, because if fatigue sets in quickly, concentration is lost, making it hard to avoid gross mistakes.
— What are Svatok and Yarmoluk doing in the national team’s starting lineup — players whose level of play still does not meet the requirements for matches like against the Belgium team?
— We need to see what the alternative was. Could Sudakov have played in Yarmoluk’s position, do we have any third center-back besides Svatok? From the very first minutes, Svatok was responsible for Lukaku and initially did a good job marking him, but then when he lost strength, everything went wrong.
— Zabarnyi, in my opinion, did not have his best match — after several obvious mistakes, Ilya had to grab his head...
— I think his performance was affected by inadequate recovery. The "physical" aspect let him down, and there was a certain energy void.
— What do you say about the goals conceded by the Ukraine national team?
— When they hit your house with a sledgehammer, and you think you can hold out somehow, that doesn’t happen, because a crack is bound to appear. From the left flank, Doku methodically broke through our defense, and in the 70th minute, he finally broke through. Everything is logical. Plus, this time, the Belgium team coach made very successful and timely substitutions. After that, we started walking on a thin line...
— Did Lukaku play at his usual high level?
— For him, and for Doku, this style of football is very convenient. There’s no need to retreat to defense, no need to look for the ball all over the field, wasting energy. All concentration is exclusively on attack, on finishing. There you have the result.
— Is this a coaching defeat?
— As always — in such defeats, the coach is blamed first and foremost. But one must not forget that it is the players who implement the coach's ideas on the field. Sometimes it is the players who pull off not-so-successful matches, saving the result. Imagine if this match had ended with a score of 0:1. I think in that case, most would say, yes, it was very difficult, we defended heroically, but we still managed to secure what was needed...
The worst part I saw was that the Ukraine national team could not adapt when the score was 0:2. And it wasn't even the substitutions that were the main issue, but rather the ability to change the game — to push it away from their own goal, to gain control of the ball at least to some greater percentage. No one thought we would concede a third goal in regular time. I do not rule out that the plan was to hold out until extra time, make substitutions (the same substitution of Yarmolenko, Dovbik, and Yaremchuk was most likely planned for extra time), and push the opponent away from Lunine's goal. But it didn’t happen...
— Did Lunine save the Ukraine national team as best he could?
— Perhaps only on the third goal were there questions. It seemed that Lukaku's shot to the far corner could have been saved.
— Can the outcome of the confrontation with Belgium be considered a disaster?
— Before these matches, everyone considered the Belgium national team to be the favorite. After the first match, when the Ukrainians created a miracle and gave us hope, almost everyone began to think that we could definitely secure a ticket to Division "A" of the Nations League. We were let down by the effect of inflated expectations. After the success in Murcia, we realized that we were capable of something significant and deserved it, but after 0:3 in Genk, it became clear — in Division "A", where we so wanted to be, we would have to endure and experience such things in every match, in every half. There awaited us opponents just like Belgium, or even stronger.
The most important thing: the Ukraine national team did not fall down and did not climb up, but moved along a straight path, having earned the right to draw a lucky ticket to the elite, but this time it did not work out. In the end, remember that we lost the match to the Belgium national team with a score of 3:4, and this is not a disaster!
Oleg Semenchenko
