Commentator and journalist Viktor Vatsko expressed his opinion regarding Ukrainian forward Artem Stepanov's refusal to come to the Ukraine U-20 national team training camp.
"Should Andriy Shevchenko intervene? I believe it would be very noble of him, maybe even too noble, because this is not an issue at his level. You understand, from the status point of view, well, what should he do? Convince whom? Football-wise, because he is still not a footballer. There are actually many such footballers in Ukrainian football, 17-year-old young and ambitious guys with even more ambitious parents.
Therefore, I believe that this is the behavior of a footballer who shows through his actions that his ego and some 'flies' in his head are more important than the country. Well, what should Shevchenko persuade him about? Should Andriy Shevchenko kneel before Stepanov's father? All for the sake of having someone play for the Ukraine national team who does not want to play for it? I cannot recall instances when a footballer who does not want to play for a team gave anything to that team, besides a headache," Vatsko said on his author's program.