Defender of the Ukrainian national team Yevhen Cheberko shared his impressions of the national team's performance at the friendly tournament Canadian Shield, during which the "blue-yellow" team played two matches — against Canada (2:4) and New Zealand (2:1).
Yevhen Cheberko— How can you assess the performances of the Ukrainian national team in Canada? Because here, in Ukraine, there was, as always, a lot of criticism.
— Nothing new, of course. I understand what you mean. And I understand why fans always focus on this. But I think they all should already understand that there are many teams in football that can play at a high level now. And all national teams have learned to play football. At least, they have learned to defend themselves.
But among us, our people, or people from other countries, there is this feeling that Canada, the USA, or India don’t know anything yet. Or Canada can only play hockey, and the USA — American football, and someone else might not even be able to play any sport. This is a somewhat outdated idea we have in Ukraine, among our fans.
So I can say that the experience was good, but it was also hard for the players who flew from Ukraine and Europe because it’s a very difficult journey. The time difference and weather conditions differ here. It takes a bit of time to adapt to another team and understand how they play, how you need to play against them. So it’s worth assessing the tournament from a positive perspective, plus there were players who received calls for the first time or hadn’t played in a long time and got a bit of playing time now.
And the coaching staff had time to check new players, check the connections. And I think we can view this positively. Unfortunately, we lost to Canada, but I remember that we lost not as much as the score shows. Yes, we only scored at the end — and they still had chances, but we created enough moments to have a completely different result.
— How did you overall feel working with the coaching staff of Serhiy Rebrov?
— Great. I was a bit nervous at the beginning because I had never communicated with him before and had never played against his teams. So it was interesting but also scary at first. I can say that the coaching staff of the national team is very well-formed because everyone knows what they are responsible for, how the national team should play, and what instructions the players need to be given. It was interesting and pleasant to see all of this from the inside.
— Which players from the national team can you highlight, who, in your subjective opinion, is currently the strongest?
— I would highlight, I think, Zabarnyi, because it is very evident that he plays in the English Premier League now. He has progressed a lot, and it is clear at what level he is now, what experience he has, and sometimes it seems that it is easy for him to play against other teams.
I also like Tsyhankov. He has great technique, makes quick decisions, never loses the ball, and it is also evident now that he is already playing a lot in Europe and has reached another level. I can also mention Zinchenko, Sudakov, because they are also very good-level football players, and if they are at their peak, I think they are the best footballers in the Ukrainian national team.
It’s hard to highlight someone, but I think this quartet stands out.
Kristina Pastukhova
