Sergiy Popov: “Boys lack psychological stability in Slovakia”

14.05.2018 14:39

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Head coach of U-18 Ukraine national team Serhiy Popov summed up the team work in Slovakia.

At the end of last week, the youth national team of Ukraine (footballers not older than 2000) completed a foreign training camp, during which it took part in the Slovak Cup tournament. After returning to Ukraine, the head coach of the blue and yellows Serhiy Popov answered the questions of the FFU official website.

— Sergey Alexandrovich, were you satisfied with the past Sat.orom your team?

- There is satisfaction from work, but the result of the tournament leaves much to be desired. We lost two starting matches, especially gross mistakes in the match with the Czechs. But collecting from all points of view proved useful.

— As soon as you explain the defeatу (0: 3) from Czech Republic?

- 13 football players worked at this training camp. Some were called up to our team for the first time, and there were those who had not been involved in the national team for a long time. One day of training is not enough for the boys to master all the requirements of the mentors. To play on equal terms with the Czechs, you need to at least be in the optimal lineup. Two goals out of three we missed after the standard positions. Reason? Weak concentration. In addition, some players were not ready for an opponent of this level.

— But in the course of the tournament the blue-yellows added…

- Convenient. Despite the defeat of the United States, we began to get much more. But again, the players lacked psychological resilience. But already in the matches against Kazakhstan and Wales, the game of the wards satisfied me.

— Which of your players could you identify?

- Yevhen Isayenko. He spent the whole tournament at a good level, was the leader of the team. Without him, the team would be even harder.

— Your team reunion next September?

- So. He will be the last before the qualifying matches of Euro-2019. At this stage of training, the national team of Ukraine will take part in the tournament "Federation Cup" in Latvia. There we have to play three matches. Let's try to simulate the team's game for official matches.

It will be recalled that in October of this year (October 10-16), the youth national team of Ukraine U-18 will play in the qualifying round of Euro-2019. Sergei Popov's team was in Group 8, where it was accompanied by Albania (host of the tournament), Slovakia and Norway. The two best national teams will advance to the elite round. The matches of the second stage of the competition will take place in the spring of next year, and the final part of the Euro will take place in July 2019 in Armenia.