The famous Ukrainian coach, former mentor of Tavriya, Sevastopol Sergei Puchkov shared his impressions of the final match of the Ukrainian Cup ("Shakhtar" — "Dynamo" — 1:1, penalties — 6:5), and also gave his forecast for the outcome of the struggle for medals in the current Ukrainian championship.
Sergei PuchkovWhat do you say about the recent final of the Ukrainian Cup, in which the long-time and irreconcilable rivals — Donetsk’s "Shakhtar" and Kyiv’s "Dynamo" faced each other?
I was convinced before the match that the game would be quite serious and tense. After all, "Shakhtar" had great motivation — if they won, they would get the right to play not in the Conference League, but in the Europa League, which is rated much higher. And that’s exactly how it turned out.
Who knows how this match would have ended if not for the miss in the penalty shootout from Dynamo player Sasha Karavaev. After this blunder, he had tears in his eyes, and one can understand his emotions.
What outcome do you see for both of our giants in the championship?
In the next round, "Dynamo" will play in Odessa against "Chernomorets" and has every chance to clinch the championship there ahead of schedule. After losing in the cup final, the Kyiv team will be motivated to achieve the desired result, especially since the gold medals will also go to them in case of a draw. The fact that just two days ago "Dynamo" played a tough match in Zhytomyr against "Shakhtar", where they spent quite a lot of energy, will not change the lineup much in the game against "Chernomorets". In my opinion, if there are any personnel changes, they will be minimal. Specifically, Vladislav Dubinchak will not be able to play as he will miss the game due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
As for "Shakhtar", in my opinion, in the last two rounds of the championship, they will not manage to catch up or surpass "Alexandria", which is in second place and is five points ahead of them. It is hard to believe that the Alexandria team, which has only lost three times over a long tournament distance, will suddenly lose twice in a row. Miracles do happen in football, but not in this case.
Vyacheslav Kulchytsky
