Well-known Ukrainian coach Yuriy Virt commented on the defeat of the Ukrainian national team against France in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match.
— The impressions are negative, a 0:4 defeat. There was hope before the game that we could challenge them, carry out our attacks, and create chances. I fully understand that France is definitely a stronger team. But I hoped that through discipline, we could keep our goal intact and score a goal.
But as the game showed, we created nothing in attack. There was no shot on goal. We couldn’t withstand the pressure from the French national team, and in the second half, after the first goal, the team just crumbled. But we definitely shouldn’t make a tragedy out of it, because the decisive game is on Sunday.
— How do you assess the coaching staff’s decision to play with a reserve or semi-reserve lineup in anticipation of the decisive match against Iceland?
— It’s clear that everything will be decided on Sunday. Therefore, most likely, it is the right decision to let our main players, who have yellow cards, rest.
There was hope that we would play five defenders in a 5−3−2 system and withstand this pressure throughout the match. But we saw that it didn’t work out. I think it was expected that the main players wouldn’t start.
— In the first half, the plan worked, but at the start of the second, there was an episode: first, we were not awarded a penalty, and then they immediately got a penalty against us. How did this affect Ukraine’s game breaking down?
— From what we weren’t awarded, I think it was fair. And in the second episode, there was just a bit of experience lacking from Mikhavko. It was an unnecessary penalty but definitely a penalty. The stepping was a penalty.
This goal somewhat broke the team. We saw — substitutions started immediately, and there was a tactical restructuring. We started to play four defenders. And we see that when you give free space, the French team tears apart such teams. All together, this led to a rout.
What I really didn’t like was the lack of a counter-game. How did the Ukrainian team want to attack? We didn’t see any attacking actions. Even in the first half, we played more backward than forward. This surprised me.
We had two forwards — Hutsulyak and Yaremchuk. We needed to deliver balls to them and support with a second wave. This wasn’t there. Standing and defending is possible, but there had to be a counter-game. There wasn’t.
— Because of this, it seemed that the Rebrov staff didn’t have a plan B.
— We saw that they reshaped, new players came in. But, as I said, the big problem was in the attacking actions. We wanted to finish attacks at least with shots on goal. We didn’t cling well to the ball, didn’t hold it. With Vanat’s entry, we could say, we reached the penalty area two or three times. That’s too little.
We needed to play better with the ball. We lost it, although I can’t even say that France covered us very aggressively. Perhaps because of this game, we were preparing for Iceland, and it was like a rehearsal, while the official one will be on Sunday.
— And in it, only victory will satisfy us, and for that, we need to score.
— Let’s remember the first match [with Iceland]. We scored five goals. We remember Iceland had good goal-scoring chances, but didn’t use them. And Ukraine capitalized on its chances very well.
My opinion is that no one will rush to score and take risks from the first minutes. At first, there will be more cautious football. But then everything can change. If we concede quickly, Iceland will close down, and it will be difficult for us to create chances.
We need to work very well on defense so as not to concede, ideally build a transition phase from defense to attack so we can quickly create chances.
The main thing is to score; we need only a victory. The coaches will analyze and choose the right plan. But most importantly: the players must understand that the slogans have ended. They will have to answer for this game. Everyone will have to answer. They understand this game is decisive. Eleven players have to go out and just fight. The grass should be burning. Resolve, commitment — all of this must be there.