Former goalkeeper of Kyiv’s “Dynamo” Volodymyr Tsytkyn, who later coached various age groups of the Ukrainian national team, shared his impressions of the Ukrainian youth team’s performance at the European Championship in Slovakia.
Volodymyr Tsytkyn— Watching the opening match of Unai Melgosa’s players against the Danes, I caught myself thinking that something similar I had already seen from our national team. The same fluctuations in the game, problems with physical condition, lack of concentration in critical moments. Although in the first half, there were no particular complaints about our boys.
—How can you explain that the opponent performed better after the break?
— They turned out to be well-trained, and when our players dropped their pace a bit, they started to better control the ball and seized the initiative. We must give credit to the opponent for almost 100 percent conversion of goal-scoring chances. And our players would miss even when they went one-on-one with the Danish goalkeeper. In my opinion, coach Unai Melgosa missed a bit with the lineup. It would have been more beneficial if goalkeeper Hryhoriy Yermakiv and stopper Taras Mykhavko, with his accurate first pass, had started. But, I repeat, this is my point of view. For me, a draw would have been a more fair outcome.
—Was there any underestimating of the opponent on our part?
— I don’t think so, because the Danes have a whole group of players who play for famous foreign clubs. Perhaps our mentality was affected somewhere. Although at competitions of this level, one needs to be maximally focused, considering every little detail. We couldn’t boast about this with the Danes, although overall, we left a decent impression.
—The tournament situation is such that today the Ukrainians need to defeat the Finns to keep their chances of advancing to the next round. Who do you consider the favorite?
— I lean towards the fact that Ukrainians have more chances to develop. However, I am convinced that many experts in the opening round thought the Dutch would confidently beat the Finns, but they barely managed to avoid defeat. That’s why we need to be ready for the Finns’ tenacity. Our "trump cards" are better technical preparation and more versatile actions. If we avoid unfortunate mistakes in defense, I believe we can prevail.
Andriy Pysarenko
