The renowned former coach and now football expert Oleksandr Sevidov exclusively shared his thoughts on the Nations League match between the national teams of Belgium and Ukraine, which ended sadly for us with a score of 0:3, for UA-Football.
— After 0:3 and how the Ukrainian national team played, does the first victory 3:1 over the Belgians seem like a coincidence?
— I wouldn’t say that the victory in Murcia was accidental. But the defeat in Genk was deserved. When trying to counter-attack, two or three players moving through the midfield is of no use. Before the game, De Bruyne said: «Maybe it’s better for us to play in Group B to win more». I have a counter question: how did we think we could play in Group A with such a game?
— The game with three central defenders and a ‘bus’ in front did not justify itself. We still conceded three goals.
— The problem is not in the three defenders, but in the complete lack of counterplay. We broke down when we conceded the second goal. The players fell physically, and immediately conceded the third. It was similar to when the Belgians conceded the first goal in the first match after a gross mistake, and their tactical setup just collapsed. The same happened to our national team after the second goal, when the whole team sprawled across the field, with no backup, and as a result—huge gaps formed in the defensive line. Lukaku thrives on such space—this is his bread, to push through and score. I think the scores of 3:1 and 0:3 are deserved.
— My opinion: the Belgian coach Garcia lost the first game when, at 1:1 in the 70th minute, he replaced two leading players De Bruyne and De Ketelaere, who were leading the whole game. After their substitution, Belgium simply fell apart. Moreover, he didn’t include two more important players in defense, Fasa, and in attack, Doku. In Genk, the latter two significantly strengthened the hosts' game. Do you agree?
— I can partially agree. There’s always a saying: «In victory, the team wins; in defeat, the coach loses». Now Garcia made the right conclusions, reshuffled the squad, and in the second half, he guessed with the substitutions, after which the game completely turned around. And again, a similarity with the first match: back then, Hutsulyak came off the bench and equalized the score, now De Kuiper came off the bench and scored with his very first touch. In Murcia, the Ukrainian national team won due to character, while in Genk, the hosts showed their character and will to turn the game around. Probably, it’s no coincidence that the Belgian coach asked his players to go onto the field «with a knife between their teeth». He reached the hearts of his charges.
Even with a score of 2:0, in such a tough game, the hosts did not stop and still pressed our national team. I’ll repeat: I was surprised that we didn’t counter-attack at all. Only after the second goal was there a slight flare-up, and that’s it. For example, the ball is cleared to Vanat, but only Hutsulyak and Sudakov run to support the attack. How can you attack with just three players?
— Hutsulyak also rarely thought about attack. He essentially played as a second right defender together with Zinchenko. Their task was to not give Doku space to extinguish his speedy runs along the flank. They still failed; he tore them apart?
— The purely defensive tactic 5-4-1, to maintain the necessary score, brought no dividends. After 2:0, we just fell apart, the goal that returned us into a state of shock. Although even in such a game, we could have dragged it out to extra time.
— But we were lucky in the first half when the referee did not award a penalty against us in the 5th minute. Perhaps an early goal would have helped our national team play differently, to push forward, rather than think about how to maintain a comfortable score?
— At that moment, Yarmolyuk wanted to play the ball, but accidentally kicked the opponent in the stomach with his foot. By the way, I would highlight Yarmolyuk's good game; he played decently. Lunin was also outstanding, and his reliable play until the 70th minute gave a chance for improvement in the group. Unfortunately, in this game, our hopes for the national team were not fulfilled.
Sergiy Shebek