The Ukrainian U-19 national team (players born no later than 2007) triumphantly completed the Euro-2026 (U-19) qualification round, winning all three matches in their group with an identical score of 3—0, leaving no chance for their opponents, which included teams from Albania (the hosts of the tournament), Montenegro, and Slovakia. After returning to Ukraine, the head coach of the blue-yellows, Dmytro Mykhaylenko, summed up the results of these competitions.
Dmytro Mykhaylenko (photo: uaf.ua)— Mr. Dmytro, on a scale of one to five, how would you rate the performance of your players in the Euro qualification round?
— I evaluate based on two criteria. Therefore, based on the results, I give the highest score since we achieved three victories and kept our goal intact. As for the quality of the game, there is still room for improvement in our actions, so I give four points.
— In terms of the game and statistics, your team left no chance for the opponents. Did you expect more from Albania, Montenegro, and Slovakia?
— The most important thing is that we managed to contain the opponents. The Albanians, for example, took three shots at our goal, and only one was from within the penalty area. We allowed the Montenegrins to take two shots from that zone. In the game with the Slovaks, we focused on defense so that the opponent would not enter dangerous areas. We succeeded in that. And since we have a strong attacking group, we found and capitalized on our moments in each match. Perhaps three goals per match were not always justified, but that is how it turned out.
All opponents were quite good, but we knew how to play against each of them. And when the team executes the game plan, that’s half the battle. Thanks to good preparation, we managed to confidently win all matches.
— Which opponent gave you and your players the most trouble in terms of gameplay?
— I don’t want to offend anyone since we managed to make it so that the opponents did not qualitatively threaten us. But I will probably name the Slovak team, which took more shots at our goal than others.
— After each national team match, a «Player of the Match» is chosen. Could you name your player for each of the games?
— I will not do that, as we have leaders in each line. I do not want to downplay anyone’s contribution, and that would be wrong. There is a group of players who performed at a level, and each of them can lay claim to this title. We scored a lot and did not concede once. Therefore, I will call our entire team «the lions» (smiles).
— Bogdan Redushko demonstrated the highest performance in the «goal+assist» system. Is he currently the leader of the team?
— He performs set-pieces well, has a good vision of the field. He is definitely one of them. Bogdan means a lot to this team.
— Has the plan for the next team gathering been made?
— We are waiting for the draw, which will take place in December, and we will proceed from that. The dates are set, but we need to understand who we will play against in preparation for the second qualification round.
