Serhiy Popov: "It is necessary to decide on the players who will go to Albania to qualify for Euro"

05.09.2018 13:01

Head coach of U-19 U-XNUMX national team Serhiy Popov and his team will try to show quality football at the tournament in Latvia.

On September 6, the youth national team of Ukraine (footballers not older than 2000) will play in the international tournament "Latvian Football Federation Cup" with a match against the Faroe Islands. On the 8th, the blue and yellows will play against Macedonia, and on the 10th - with the hosts of the competition.

On the eve of the tournament, the head coach of the national team of Ukraine Serhiy Popov answered the questions of the official site of the FFU.

- Serhiy Oleksandrovych, did you manage to get all the football players at your disposal?

- In principle, yes. However, in the last round of the championship in the game against Dynamo, Karpaty midfielder Ivan Zhelizko was injured, so Artem Bondarenko from Shakhtar had to be called instead.

- You have invited seven players born in 2001 to the gathering. Do you think that these performers will strengthen the team?

- Let's see how they will perform at this training camp, although, given their recent performances for their clubs, I think this is really a reinforcement for the national team.

- Will the national team of Ukraine be considered the favorite of the competition at the tournament in Latvia?

- Based on the country's ranking, it may be so, but the same Faroe Islands team as us took part in the European Championship. The national team of Ukraine goes to the Cup of the Football Federation of Latvia to show quality football.

- Will you model the team's game at these competitions for the Euro qualifiers, which will take place in October?

- Of course. But first of all we need to decide on the players who will go to Albania, because we have a few more guys that we keep in sight.

- Do you have any problems before the start of the tournament in Latvia?

- It often happens that there is not enough time. We only had three days to prepare for the competition. Well, let's somehow get out of this situation.

- Will you set the wards the task of winning the tournament?

- If we do not set such a task, it will be wrong. Of course, we want to win every fight and the tournament as a whole.

It will be recalled that in October of this year (October 10-16), the youth national team of Ukraine U-19 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.