The senior coach of the 'Dynamo U-19' youth team, Ihor Kostiuk, shared his impressions after the rescheduled match of the 16th round of the U-19 National League, in which the 'blue and whites' drew at home with Rivne’s 'Veres U-19' (2:2).
Ihor Kostiuk (photo: fcdynamo.com)— In today’s game, our side’s finishing was not very good. We created many chances to score but couldn’t capitalize on them. We were leading 2—0, brought on fresh players expected to stabilize the defense, add energy, refresh the game, and close spaces, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. Towards the end of the match, our central defenders made mistakes — they are young players born in 2008, who only joined from the academy this year, continuing to learn and not yet always properly position themselves. In the first and second conceded goals, there were unnecessary mistakes as stoppage time was ending, earning an unnecessary foul that led to a set-piece after which we conceded, which affected the final result.
— How did the idea of rescheduling this match come about? Was it so that you wouldn’t play in mid-December?
— Our last game is on December 10, held abroad, in Scotland. The logistics are long, and if we return home, we would have had to reschedule this match somewhere around December 15. It’s already winter, and our opponents would also have to wait a long time.
We planned to move this game to spring, but it didn’t work, don’t know the reasons — we were told there were no grounds for it. I don’t understand why the UPL didn’t meet halfway with the only team playing in the UEFA Youth League, representing the country on the international stage, to ease our situation. I’m curious what grounds they had for rescheduling Shakhtar’s matches when they went on an international tournament at the beginning of the current season; they were also allowed to reschedule matches last season. It somehow works incomprehensibly. I believe shifting this match to early spring would have cost nothing.
But no worries — we played during the international break. Today, we didn’t have three important players, including Hubenko, who are key in our team but were called up to national teams. We planned to replace them so that it wouldn’t affect our game. Throughout both halves, we had an advantage, controlled the ball. The opponent played primitively — through long passes, but it yielded results for them. Such tactics sometimes work and have a right to exist. We will make improvements. At the end, a little concentration was missing.
— Both goals were scored by our team from penalties. It was previously believed that the player who earned the penalty should not take it, but today, the opposite happened in both cases. How do the boys decide now who takes the penalty?
— It’s all superstition (smiles). If a player is confident, feels he can score, then why not? That’s what happened today — both earned penalties and converted them themselves.
— You have already met 'Veres' in the opening round match when you won a narrow 1—0 victory. Has anything changed in the opponent’s game since then? How predictable were they?
— I’ll repeat, they played primitive football through long passes. There was a lot of rough play and shoving, but the referee interpreted episodes more in their favor. It led to set pieces, and after these free kicks, they delivered the ball into our penalty area, creating moments. Mostly, throughout the match, that’s where the sharpness faded, there were no special threats, but at the end, we conceded two goals due to mistakes. I’ll repeat, our players are young, only this year they came from the Academy and started playing at this level. This will be an experience and lesson for them and us too — we will correct the mistakes.
