Former midfielder of Lviv’s 'Karpaty' Ihor Khudobyak explained why the Ukrainian national team failed to organize a meaningful attack near France’s goal even once.
Ihor Khudobyak (photo: uspa.com.ua)— A very unsuccessful match for the Ukrainian national team. Zero shots on target. The team found it extremely difficult to create anything up front, any kind of meaningful attack. It was clear that the players were conserving energy — all thoughts were already about Iceland, about the decisive match.
It was very difficult to play with such a lineup. The guys probably made their first start together. The five-defender scheme had some effect in the first half: they still managed to hold back the French. But the penalty against us and the conceded goal completely changed the course of the game. Ukraine opened up, moved forward, and ended up conceding a lot.
In the episode where VAR was used to check a possible penalty against the French, it seems to me that the referee should have awarded a free kick in favor of Ukraine, as it was dangerous play — a straight leg from Upamecano. I don’t know how these episodes are interpreted by the rules now, but it’s clearly a free kick if the contact didn’t occur in the penalty area.
But the penalty against Ukraine was one hundred percent. Mykhalko stepped on the opponent’s foot — a clear foul. Yes, the French felt their advantage during the game and were very confident they could win.
This penalty broke the Ukrainian national team because after it, they had to open up, score at least one goal, create chances. But, according to the game, it looked like Ukraine could only count on a 0:0 and held-off defense. Then France had a lot of chances, and it seemed that the score could have been more than 4:0.
The Ukrainian national team most likely couldn’t create anything because they had never played in such a lineup before. Also, it’s likely that with such a scheme, the guys really didn’t know how to even approach creating a moment. In some episodes, there was some control of the ball, but to organize an attack... Nothing worked out, — said Khudobyak.
