The former head coach of Kolos from Kovalivka, Oleksandr Pozdiyev, shared his thoughts on the chances of Dynamo, Polissya, and Oleksandriya in European competitions.
Oleksandr Pozdiyev (photo: koloskovalivka.com)— We have already hit rock bottom and now we are slowly pushing off as we nurture our footballers. Dynamo can’t acquire anyone at the moment, while Shakhtar can afford to overpay Brazilians and provide good conditions. Barge needs to wake up and start everything anew to oust Mykhailenko from the starting lineup. Vanat, who is being sent to Sunderland, is being given 20 million, but at the youth Euro he didn’t convince that he’s worth that money, losing many battles, opponents didn’t concede in speed, and it was hard for him to create something individually at that level.
Of the four teams in European competitions, three have changed coaches. It’s not easy to rebuild a team in a few weeks before the season starts. They will soon start throwing dirt at Santa Coloma as a team of office workers and bartenders, but there are Spaniards playing there, and their level may raise questions, but there is a school and they are trained to work with the ball. The coach from Argentina is far from a random character.
If we set aside these little things, Polissya might end there. The status and results of Polissya in Ukraine don’t guarantee that in European competitions they will be pushed aside by teams that are labeled as outsiders. They will analyze Nazarenko and Hutsulyak, exclude Filippov — and it’s goodbye. These are the realities of today that we need to base our thoughts on.
We all need to lower our expectations a bit for our teams in Europe. Reassess the situation where Ukraine stands in the context of football. We are all living in the past, but today’s reality is somewhat different. Matches against foreign opponents during the pre-season show that our teams struggle against them. If they can advance further — great, and if they are eliminated — there’s no need to spin that into betrayal. It will be hard for all our teams, — said the expert.
