The head coach of Dynamo Kyiv U-19, Ihor Kostiuk, summed up the results of the home match of the Ukrainian youth championship against Luhansk Zorya (0:0).
Ihor Kostiuk— First and foremost, we were dissatisfied with the quality of executing the chances we created and the speed of the ball movement; it moved slowly. In the first half, we should have scored one or two goals, as there were clear opportunities, but we didn’t take them. In the second half, as I already mentioned, the ball moved slowly, and we didn’t create enough chances to score, and when we did, there was a lack of execution.
— This match took place after a break due to international fixtures. It’s often difficult to play after such breaks. Was it the same this time?
— Yes, it affected us too. But we had no time to postpone the match, as we already have a UEFA Youth League match against Brommapojkarna on October 22nd, so we played without postponing. Of course, the players returning from national duties were tired after the journey and lacked freshness. We also didn’t have the substitutions necessary to strengthen and refresh our game.
— How did the team spend the break?
— We were training and preparing. We told the players that those who stayed needed to come into this match with full responsibility. Those who are not regular starters must prove that they can compete for a spot in the starting lineup. However, as we can see, we lost two points unnecessarily. I’ve mentioned before that we are building a new team, and not all players fully understand our demands yet. At the moment, the quality of play does not allow us to show the football we want. Some players are not yet individually up to the task.
— You mentioned inadequate execution of moments. Can we say that the team was also unlucky? After all, the ball hit the crossbar, and there were several other good chances to score...
— That’s not the issue. I told the players: if there’s no maximum focus, drive, or concentration — the ball won’t go into the goal, not even into an empty one. This time, it happened that a lack of concentration prevented us from scoring our goals.
— Very soon, there’s the UEFA Youth League match against Brommapojkarna. What do you think about the opponent?
— As I already said, we didn’t have the opportunity to move this match so that the players would be fresher, and we’re already heading to Poland the day after tomorrow for the UEFA Youth League game. Of course, we analyze the opponent — they are a very strong, organized, and substantive team. Their squad mainly consists of players born in 2007 who are already playing for the first team. Furthermore, the Swedes have one of the largest academies in Europe — over 260 teams. So, they have many to choose from, and they have quality players and became champions of Sweden. So, we analyze and prepare. It will be interesting to play with them, but everything depends only on us.
