Former footballer of Lviv's “Karpaty” Yuriy Benyo shared his impressions from the playoff return match of the Nations League for the right to participate in Division “A” Belgium — Ukraine (3:0).
Yuriy Benyo“What emotions can there be... To be honest, it was such emptiness, as if I was on the field and played myself. Total disappointment. It was very hard to watch this.
The biggest problem was that in the counterattack nothing worked. Against such a team, you should at least create some chances. So that the defenders have at least some time to rest.
But like this — 90 minutes you’re on the floor. Whether you want to or not — it will crack because the defenders are under tension all the time. Attack after attack comes in. While there was still strength and concentration was maintained — it was possible to withstand. You know, it was clear that we were waiting for that goal to come in. Belgium missed so much, Lunin saved us. Only some kind of miracle could help us.
To go for that counterattack, you need fast players. Sudakov for such a game — he clearly doesn’t fit. Vanat — he can’t latch onto the ball when you’re constantly breaking out from under pressure with a long pass. His size doesn’t allow him to do that. Not like Yaremchuk or Dovbik.
The biggest tragedy is that we didn’t put any pressure on their defenders at all. We completely gave them the initiative. We closed up and waited until we conceded. There was no point in wanting to score a goal. If you don’t pressure the defenders with such a team, they feel there is no resistance. Every time you pick up the ball — and attack, attack, attack. It’s hard to defend so much if there’s no counterplay,” — said Benyo.
