The head coach of the Ukrainian U-20 youth national team, Dmytro Mykhaylenko, summarized the performance of the 'blue and yellows' at the World Cup in Chile.
— How would you summarize Ukraine’s performance at the World Cup?
— I think that for their results in Chile, the team deserves a solid four. The first thing we pay attention to is the quality of the game, and it was quite decent. There were also good results in the group stage. In this part of the tournament, only two teams performed better (Japan and Argentina both scored nine points). Unfortunately, fate decreed that we were to face Spain, the best team in Europe and one of the best in the world, in the round of 16. But again, I thanked my players who tried not just to play but to demonstrate meaningful football in this tournament.
— Which match was the most challenging for you?
— Certainly against Spain. It’s very difficult to compete against the Spanish considering the individual skill of their players. However, we wanted to create more inconveniences for the opponent near their goal. In my opinion, our guys rushed a bit in this regard, and nervousness was evident. We adapted to the pace of the game and the speed of ball handling by the 15th minute and, in principle, didn’t allow the opponent to create many scoring chances, except perhaps at the end of the match when we took some risky actions.
— Our team had 48 shots in this tournament, and only 13 of them were on target…
— In the first three games, in the group stage, we had a decent number of on-target shots. In the last match against Spain, indeed, out of nine shots, only one was on target, which somewhat spoiled the statistics. But four matches are not really enough for comprehensive statistics. In the match against Spain, I associate such a figure with the players' nervousness.
— Vladyslav Krapivtsov, Maksym Melnychenko, and Oleksiy Gusev played all matches from start to finish. Were they the ones you had the least complaints about?
— It’s not that there were no complaints against them, although they performed at a high level. It’s just that the World Cup squad consists of 18 players, and there wasn’t a replacement for every position. We could have given them some rest, but they were key performers in their positions.
— In attack, you chose Pyshchur. Why not Ponomarenko?
— The difference was in physical condition. Pyshchur, because he had more playing time in the autumn, was, in our opinion, in better match shape. But we warned both that they would be alternating because of the tight schedule — playing every two days makes recovery challenging. Overall, it’s a problem for the national team: not many players had consistent playing practice.
— Were there any players who pleasantly surprised you during the competition?
— I can’t single out one or two players. Throughout the tournament, there was a great atmosphere in the team. It was a bit surprising since not everyone knew each other before. This cohesiveness translated onto the field. Every player gave their best. The potential of this team was much greater than at the round where we exited. Once again, had fate been kinder to us, we could have even reached the final.
— Of course, no one can do it alone, but Synchuk’s disqualification caused a sensation. Can you explain what really happened?
— I received information about Synchuk an hour before the meeting for the match against Spain. My mind was occupied with entirely different matters than resolving this issue. Already in Ukraine, in a calm environment, we will find out how it happened.