Commentator Roman Bebekh spoke ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualification match France — Ukraine.
Roman Bebekh«The expectations from the match against Iceland are maximal — victory. I understand that against the French, the forces are incomparable. But we need to drive these fishermen. If we managed it away, then conditionally at home, we definitely need to do it.
I know that people from all over the world will come to support the national team. This is extremely important. I believe it is absolutely within our power — with this squad, with this mindset, everything is in place to win.
The main problem is Dovbyk is out. If we take it globally, our squad is unbalanced. The absence of leaders also shows. I don’t see who can lead the team. Probably, in this regard, the return of Malinovskyi has greatly influenced, and such a leader was missing. He became a leader at the previous gathering. His arrival gave a lot. It was felt — and everyone involved with the national team says this.
We always, when nothing is expected from the national team, they can deliver results. In the last gathering, there was so much hate, and on the contrary, it motivated the guys. And when we talk about the best generation, it then performs poorly. Our people need to be criticized, pushed, and pressured. They will resent and say how bad journalists and experts are, but they will deliver results. Unfortunately, there is no professionalism in these circumstances.
The drawbacks that hinder us — the absence of Mudryk. I want to say that he would have helped us a lot now if he were in form.
Sergiy Rebrov arrived at the national team on a white horse. I remember how everyone was waiting for him as some sort of messiah who would come and change everything. But probably, we need to stop living in these illusions that one person will come and change everything. This also applies to our country. We think someone else will come, and everything will be fine. Systematic, long, and extensive work is needed for the national team, as the cover of our football, to reach a serious level.
The work of Rebrov should be assessed after we put a full stop in this qualifying cycle — whether he gets there or not. These are intermediate stages now. It’s clear that Sergiy Rebrov and all of us would like the national team to look more effective and spectacular.
Rebrov is still a very cool club coach, and he is just transitioning to the national team format. He can make it to the World Cup — and with that can shut everyone up and say: „What were you talking about there.“ He has this chance, and everything is in his hands. We are also waiting for the greatest result from him.
I think he also needs to be tougher with the players. He gives a lot to the professionalism of our players, and they are not always ready for this. Although many of our people play in Europe, with him, they still need a tougher stance.
I am not Nostradamus. But I want to say that the national team must qualify for the World Cup, especially in such an incredibly important time for us. I read a lot of statements from our players, everyone says this, but they just need to go out and show. We have already talked a lot about everything, and then we were very disappointed.
The generation that at the last Euro was raised to the heavens and labeled as the best, although I don’t think so. The main thing is that this generation doesn’t become lost later. So that they are not remembered as counted on, and then what happened happened.
Everyone needs to gather and just talk before the game — either we play, or we are just not football players. If you can’t beat the Icelanders during the war, then you really need to think about why you are doing this at all. The whole country is watching you and you can lift the spirits of the whole country, or you can ruin it and say how bad everything is. We have a lot of problems — I want our players and the national team to bring positive emotions.
And I want our players not to be offended by why so much mud is poured on them after defeats. It is necessary to understand the context in which we live. People turn on the national team matches to enjoy. And if they see that someone is not giving their all and not playing, they react accordingly to this. We will look optimistically at these matches. I think everything should be fine for us, and we should make it to the playoffs and we will see what happens next,» Bebekh said.
