Former forward of the Ukraine national team Olexiy Belik commented on the defeat of the "blue-yellow" team by Belgium (1:2) in the second match of the Nations League playoffs.
Oлексій Бєлік— In the first match in Murcia, our team secured a decent lead, winning 3:1. What were your expectations for the second game?
— Overall, the reserve of strength for the Ukraine national team was good— a two-goal advantage speaks about that. Of course, both our players and the coaching staff, as well as the fans, wanted us to raise our level and play in League A of the Nations League in the future. As for the Belgians, we read Kevin De Bruyne's statements a day before the match in response when he said that it wouldn’t be a big deal for Belgium to end up in League B of the Nations League. He said that they wouldn’t give their all, playing at 100%. As it turned out, these were false statements from the leader of our opponents.
— There were only two days between the two matches. What can the head coach change in such a short period of time?
— You can change tactics, make adjustments to the lineup. We all knew that the Ukraine national team had a problem with the right defender. The victory with a score of 3:1, in my opinion, influenced the decision of our coaching staff to field three central defenders— Zabarniy, Matviyenko, and Svatok. I think that in this situation, the wide defenders should be able to switch on speed, making runs of 40-50 meters. And while Mykolenko fits this criterion, Zinchenko does not have that kind of speed. Jeremy Doku, who played on the flank, simply didn’t give Oleksandr Zinchenko a chance to think about attacking. So, we couldn’t counterplay. Who could help us in that case? Mykhailo Mudryk or Oleksandr Nazarenko, I’m just talking about the profile of the needed player.
— In the first half, we only reached the opponent's goal once, but Zinchenko’s long-range shot was inaccurate. For the rest of the time, we defended in an organized manner, though it can’t be said that the hosts had great chances to open the scoring…
— The Belgium national team constantly attacked and was near Lunin's goal. It is evident that the hosts spent a lot of time in attack, being close to our goal.
Our opponent has versatile players in the attack line. Lukaku is a powerful forward who can shoot with both feet. Although for a certain time our defenders managed to cope with him. Doku is a sharp, explosive player. Trossard is a technical footballer. And De Bruyne is a master who orchestrates the whole play of his team. Yes, many say that he is already old, past the 33-year mark, but he still knows how to play on the football field.
— In the 69th minute of the match, Serhiy Rebrov sent in three new players— Mykhailychenko, Tsygankov, and Dovbyk. And just a minute later, the hosts opened the scoring. Is there a pattern to this? Maybe the guys who came on as substitutes hadn’t yet joined the game?
— Here we need to understand that the starting line-up players were already tired by that time. Mykolenko got injured, Vanat had a warning in his book. The substitution of Sudakov for Tsygankov raises questions. It’s easy to talk about this after the final whistle. Maybe it would have been better to substitute Sudakov for Shaparenko. Probably, the national team's head coach kept in mind the connection between Tsygankov and Dovbyk, which was formed last year at Girona. In the second half, it was evident how often Yegor Yarmolyuk made mistakes; there were options of Nazaryna and Buyalsky for substitution. Here we need to ask Rebrov what goal he had.
— As it turned out, all the goals in this confrontation were scored by Romelu Lukaku. He scored in the first match, and he scored twice in the second match. How can you contain such a powerful center forward?
— Only collectively— one player fights him, another player provides cover. It is clear that Lukaku is strong in one-on-one situations, adept at using his body. For a long time, we managed to cope with him, but…
— In the second goal, the referee could have whistled for a foul when Romelu slightly pushed Matviyenko?
— Apparently, Daniel Siebert could have fixed a foul in that moment, and there would have been no complaints from anyone. But he decided to let the game continue. Let's say, in this episode there was home refereeing from the referee. And in the third goal, Mykhailychenko and Matviyenko didn’t sort out who would engage the attacking player of the Belgium national team and who would help Svatok in battling Lukaku. In my opinion, Mykhailychenko should have stepped forward, and Mykola Matviyenko should have assisted Svatok. A pass was made from Vanaken, and Lukaku did everything masterfully.
— How can we properly phrase one of the conclusions of this match: did three players from the Belgium national team, De Bruyne, Doku, and Lukaku, outplay the entire Ukraine national team or were these leaders stronger than the leaders of the Ukrainian national team?
— I would put it differently. The attacking players of the Belgium national team should thank the young defenders of their team, who played excellently in defense, in one-on-one situations, and granted their leaders the opportunity to shine in attack. I would also add Vanaken here. And already in the attack, the Belgians simply overwhelmed our defensive line.
— Can we demand more from our football players, or is this our level?
— I think everyone saw the class of the Belgium national team's players they play against. Especially now, when the situation in Ukraine is extremely difficult. We must acknowledge that there are teams in Europe that surpass our national team in many components of the game. To achieve a positive result, many factors need to align. As it was in the first match in Murcia.
For now, we cannot maintain our play throughout the match. Yesterday, in parallel with the Belgium - Ukraine match, I was watching the game in Valencia, Spain - Netherlands. Both teams attacked, with the hosts going forward and the guests. The game in Valencia was played at a fast pace. There was none of that in Genk.
