Oleksandr Petrakov: "The main favorite of the group is Portugal, but it does not mean that it will be a winner"

10.12.2018 12:21

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Head coach of the U-16 U-XNUMX national team Alexander Petrakov believes that the blue-yellow in the Euro qualification is a very complex group.

In the fall of 2019, Ukraine's youngest team (players not older than 2003) will play their first official matches. According to the results of the draw Oleksandr Petrakov's Euro-2020 qualifying round (U-17) rivals Portugal, Georgia and Albania.

The head coach of our team told the FFU official website about future rivals and upcoming plans.

- Alexander Vasilyevich, to fight with such teams as Portugal, Georgia and Albania, blue-yellow to strength?

- It is difficult for me to answer this question now, because our team is just being built, we are watching a lot of players. And I can say that we are still in trouble with the boys born in 2003. But there is almost a year of preparation ahead, so we look to the future with optimism. Although we understand that the main favorite of the tournament is Portugal, which is also the host of future competitions.

- Who will apply for the second ticket to the elite round?

- The favorite is not always the winner. Although, based on current schedules, I think Ukraine and Georgia will fight for second place. But you still need to study well the Albanians, most of whom play in various leagues of the Italian championship.

- Does Portugal U-16 play the same football as the main team of the country?

- So. The Portuguese operate according to the 4-3-3 scheme. Georgians have always been genetically technical. At the age of 16, the representatives of the Caucasus are physically ahead of Ukrainians. We are catching up with them at the age of 19. And the Albanians will act strictly, trying not to give in to the struggle. Let's look for our trump cards.
  
- What are the next plans of the youngest team?

- Participation in the Development Cup tournament, which will be held in Minsk in the second half of January. There we will play with teams a year older than us. Our boys should benefit from such a lesson.

- Are the rivals of the national team of Ukraine already known?

- So. These are Slovakia, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

- Will the clubs release all the players for this training camp?

- I sent calls to clubs a long time ago. During this period, I would like to get together with all the guys we called. At least the directors of the academies confirmed to me back in September that they would release their players to the national team. In Belarus, we will have five days of training, and then the tournament itself, where we will play at least five matches. There is a chance to work well on the various components of the game.

- Can you already name the list of football players?

- So. These are goalkeepers Artem Fastov (Dynamo Kyiv), Timur Puzankov (Shakhtar Donetsk); defenders Mark Mampassi, Eduard Kozik (both Shakhtar Donetsk), Anton Bol (Dynamo Kyiv), Volodymyr Malenkov (CYSS-11 Chornomorets Odessa), Glib Savchuk (UFK-Karpaty Lviv), Yegor Hrybov ( (Mariupol), Vitaliy Roman (Karpaty Lviv), Andriy Kalandadze (UFC Dnipro); midfielders Oleg Ocheretko, Dmytro Shostak (both Shakhtar Donetsk), Stanislav Ursulov (CYSS-11 Chornomorets Odessa), Oleg Khristenko, Serhiy Lebedev (both Dnipro), Nazar Voloshin (Dynamo Kyiv), Maksym Khlan (UFK-Karpaty Lviv), Mykita Makhynia (UFK Dnipro); forwards Kyrylo Popov (Dynamo Kyiv) and Andriy Veresyuk (Dnipro).