On the eve of the friendly match Ukraine — New Zealand, which will take place today in Toronto as part of the "Canadian Shield" tournament, the head coach of the Ukrainian national team Sergey Rebrov held a pre-match press conference.
Sergey Rebrov— Tell us about the squad situation in the team before the match against New Zealand.
— Unfortunately, Artem Bondarenko has sustained an injury, and his participation in the game is in question. Nikolai Shaparenko has recovered and will train today.
All other players are fully healthy and ready for the upcoming match.
— Who came up with the idea for such a captain’s armband in the match against Canada? (The captain of the Ukrainian team had the chevrons of the combat brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the main forces of the security and defense sector depicted on the armband, — ed.)
— UAF. And we all agree on this: it is necessary to constantly remind for whom we play and for whom. I think the guys found it very pleasant to play with such a mindset. I believe this captain’s armband helped the players feel more confident.
— How to make the right conclusions to avoid the mistakes that were made in the return match against Belgium and have now reoccurred in the game against Canada?
— In the national team, you have no time; you don’t have a month for preparation. Players arrive, and we don’t even have a training process.
I cannot say that the players made these mistakes. Although time is limited, we try to work, and in this situation, the players’ attitude is very important. When we play for Ukraine, it’s a completely different matter. Everyone arrived for the tournament; there were no rejections. All those who could not come had serious issues.
However, when you arrive at the national team, it is important not just to be here, but to show your maximum. As the head coach of the German national team said (after the semifinal of the Nations League against Portugal, 1:2, — ed.): "If we do not show our maximum, if we do not play at 100%, it is very difficult to compete at this level".
The same applies here: if we do not show the maximum, it is very difficult to beat any team. All national teams are composed of the best players in the country. Therefore, it will be very difficult against New Zealand. But we must think about our game and how to break through the opponent’s defense.
Unfortunately, you mention only our last two games and do not mention our first match against Belgium (3:1, — ed.). I believe there was a team there. I reiterate, unfortunately, there is not enough time for each game to be like that. We had two days to recover before the return match against Belgium then, and it was very difficult.
— What can we expect from New Zealand’s game after their victory over Côte d’Ivoire (1:0) in the first match of this tournament?
— This team is preparing for the World Cup, to which they have already qualified. In the first match of the tournament, they, in my opinion, did not use all their starting roster players, so against us, apparently, the "main" players of the New Zealand national team will play. Therefore, we are preparing for this match very seriously. Yes, we need to respect the opponent, but we need to focus on our game, our mistakes, and understand how we will try to beat this team.
Alexander POPOV
