The coach of the U-18 youth national team of Ukraine (football players not older than 2008) Volodymyr Samborskyi spoke about the goals of the gathering in Croatian Poreč.
Volodymyr Samborskyi (photo: uaf.ua)— What is the goal of the gathering taking place in Croatia?
— We are not changing our objectives much. This is another test for the players to have the goal of fighting for a place in the squad. We will review the newcomers and also those players who are not new to this team. It’s also about gaining international experience. We will play against strong opponents and see how we look against them. We want to represent Ukraine with dignity at such prestigious competitions.
— Are you satisfied that a large number of players from foreign clubs have been included in the squad?
— Yes, of course. Although this is Oleksandr Sytnyk’s team, I can say that the squad is already formed by about 80%. The core is there, now we will try to choose as qualitatively as possible among other players we review those who will later participate in official tournaments.
— Some opponents at this gathering are already familiar to the Ukrainian national team…
— Yes. We have met with Croatia three times recently, so we know their capabilities. In the last gathering, we also got to know Sweden. So we have a bit of information about them. The only mystery for us is the Welsh national team. But that’s not the main thing, we want to play our game and not deviate from this direction. It is clear that there are points we will pay attention to in the opponents' game, but we are not going to adapt to anyone.
