Sergei Popov: "The Italian team will have an advantage over other teams of our group"

07.12.2018 12:31

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

It happened in Swiss Nyon 2019 European Championship Elite Round Draw (U-19). The Blue and Yellows (players not older than 2000) were placed in Group 7, where in March 2019 they will compete for a place in the finals of the tournament with the teams of Italy, Serbia and Belgium.

The head coach of the team Sergey Popov told the official site of FFU about the chances in this competition in the national team of Ukraine.

- Serhiy Oleksandrovych, a group in the national team of Ukraine - don't you wish the enemy?

- I think the Italians are the favorites of the tournament. We have a negative result in face-to-face meetings with the Serbs so far, and we will study the Belgians, because they have not crossed paths with them yet, although I have seen some fights with their participation and I can say that this is a qualified team. We are often lucky to rival (smiles). However, we do not despair, we will play and try to make it to the final part of the Euro.

- Elite round matches will be accepted by the Italians ...

- This is another advantage of them. The rest of the teams, I think, have equal chances to compete with Italy for the first place and the only ticket from the group to Armenia.

- Do our rivals look like their national teams?

- Italians - maybe. The Belgians are trying to play football, which is demonstrated by the main team of the country, and the Serbs, if I'm not mistaken, generally follow a different tactical scheme.

- Which national team will Ukraine open the tournament with?

- If you look at the order, we will play with Serbia, Italy and Belgium.