The Ukrainian U-18 youth national team (players born in 2008 or later) returned from training in Croatia. There, the «blue-yellows» participated in an international tournament featuring the hosts, as well as teams from Sweden and Wales. The head coach of the Ukrainian team, Oleksandr Sytnyk, shared the details of this gathering with the official UAF website.
Oleksandr Sytnyk (photo: uaf.ua)— What succeeded, and what — did not during the recent training in Croatia?
— This camp, like the previous one, was a kind of selection process. Now we have invited six new players, who we have been monitoring for a long time, to review them at the international match level.
— Is the team’s not very good performance in the tournament related to this?
— We lacked coordination, but we did not have the task of winning at all costs. We wanted to give all players a chance to show themselves. The same Ivan Andreyko, who missed a lot due to a cruciate ligament injury, is not in top form yet, but we couldn’t deny him playing time, as we know his potential.
Overall, the coaching staff gathered information not only about the players' playing qualities, because we understood who we were selecting. It was important for us to see the players' attitude towards the process, how they perceive information, and their readiness for competition.
— Did the matches against Croatia, Wales, and Sweden reveal our weaknesses?
— Of course. We were satisfied with these matches. The tournament’s participants were strong. Sweden was a balanced team, Wales looked decent, except for their first match. And in Croatia, the youth teams are always at a good level.
Again, we obtained enough information about our team. And I can say that not all of our players showed the work attitude the coaching staff wanted to see. We will analyze the situation to avoid repeating past mistakes and reach a higher level of responsibility.
— When is the next gathering planned for this team?
— If nothing changes, in February we will play two friendly matches with the Italian team. We will begin establishing the team’s core for official matches that will start in the fall of next year.
