Oleg Shaitanov: “I saw in girls eyes great desire to play for national team”

27.06.2018 12:01

Victory and defeat, with the same score (3: 0 and 0: 3) - this is the result of a short visit to Italy of the Ukrainian women's futsal team, which on June 20-21 in the Fund held two friendly matches with rivals from the "Squadra Azzurri".

These matches were held by both teams in preparation for the qualifying matches of the first European Women's Championship, which will take place next year. Very soon, on July 5, the national teams of Ukraine and Italy will know their rivals in the qualifying groups. 

About the results of meetings with Italians in interview to the official website of the Futsal Association of Ukraine told Oleg Shaitanov, who made his debut in these matches as the head coach of the women's national team of Ukraine.

- Unfortunately, Olezh Mykolayovych, even the Italian mass media provided very little information about these matches. So could you briefly tell us about the course of events? Let's start with the first match.

- We combined the attacking game with active defense, meeting rivals in their half, from the middle of the field. Despite this, dangerous moments arose at our goal, but the goal was not scored. Shortly before the break, due to pressure, the girls forced their rivals to make a mistake at their goal, and after the transfer of Yulia Forsyuk, Olena Pavlenko opened the score. At the beginning of the second half after the counterattack Forsyuk doubled our advantage, and in three minutes Taisiya Babenko took advantage of the failure of the Italians in defense.

Later, I noticed that the girls wanted to play to keep the score, so I offered them to put more pressure. I don't know why, but the opponent didn't try to act with the fifth field player, so we calmly brought the match to victory.

- How did the girls themselves perceive her?

- It was our first game and the first victory. Everyone really wanted to win, no matter what. Of course, the girls really wanted to show their best side. Yes, we allowed the Italians to do a lot at our goal, but, apparently, our mood and thirst for victory did not allow the "Squadri Azzurri" to score at least one goal. The whole delegation was very pleased with the dry victory. 

- Now about the second match. Were there any changes in the lineup? It's about goalkeepers, experiments in fours. And what happened at the beginning of the match when two quick balls were missed?

- In the second match, we castled the goalkeepers and gave more time on the field to the girls who did not participate in the first game. I emphasize that this did not make us weaker.

We missed the start of the match by missing two quick balls. However, I'm glad that the players listened to the advice they heard during the timeout. The initiative was for the hosts, and we had two options: take a risk, attack recklessly and think less about defense, or play more focused and chat at the right time. We chose the second option. It took us a while to stabilize the game, and after that there were more and more moments at the gates of the Italians. I want to note that the number of dangerous moments near our goal in the second match was much less than in the first. Unfortunately, we did not take our chances, and later missed the counterattack.

Despite the fact that we have conceded, I am pleased that the team played well enough.

- What experience did you learn from these two sparring matches?

- This is a very positive departure, which marked the beginning of a new stage in the life of the Ukrainian women's futsal team. First, it was my acquaintance with the team and the team's acquaintance with me. Secondly, I saw in the eyes of the girls a great desire to play for the national team.

The trainings organized for us in Brovary by the Futsal Association of Ukraine took place in one breath, and the two games with the Italian national team were different, but each of them had its value.