League One: Favorites are already torn into battle, and sad news comes from Sumy

19.01.2019 15:05

The first newcomers to Volyn in 2019 were Arthur West and Rostislav Voloshinovich. Photo by fcvolyn.net

If the teams of the elite division have already begun preparations for the spring part of the season, then most of the first-league teams are just finishing their vacation. Although some of them have already resumed the training process.

First of all, we are talking about Dnipro-1 and Ingulets - quarterfinalists the Cup of Ukraine, which, in order to compete with Vorskla and Karpaty, respectively, need to face new challenges in armament.

Dnipro-1 has suffered personnel losses, but acquisitions are no longer planned

However, Dmytro Mykhaylenko, the manager of Dnipro, was a bit surprised. Immediately after returning from vacation, he said that the staffing of the team is almost complete. And this despite the fact that the band left seven performers, and only three newcomers - Yuri Romanyuk, who moved from "Chernomorets", and Zurab Ochigava with Orest Kuzyk, who will perform on lease. Also, the mentor did not hide his satisfaction with the fact that he extended the contract with "Dnipro-1" Alexander Nazarenko - a pupil of the club academy.

By the way, Dmytro Mykhaylenko plans to involve three more students of the academy - Yegor Yarmolyuk, Valentyn Rubchynsky and Arseniy Batagov - to work with the first team. So far, the leader of the first league is working at his base in Prydniprovsk. On January 27, Dnipro will compete in sparring with Magdalen's VPK-Agro, and in three days - with Kremen (Kremenchuk).

Ingulets footballers also gathered after a vacation at their base in Volodymyrivka. Kamil Khuchbarov and Yaroslav Homenko returned to Dnipro-1 according to the terms of the lease. As we already are reported, the team from Petrovy joined their ranks only with striker Dmytro Sula from Metalist 1925. On January 25, Serhiy Lavrynenko's wards will play a control match against Girnyk (Kryvyi Rih), and on January 28 - against Kremen.

After returning from vacation, Ingulets players focus on working in the gym. Photo by ingulec.com

Ruslan Kostyshyn is optimistic

Volyn footballers gathered after the holidays on January 10, and a week later two newcomers were introduced - Artur Zapadnya and Rostyslav Voloshinovych, who previously played for FC Lviv. It will be recalled that three performers left Lutsk a month ago, and, according to head coach Andriy Tlumak, further rotation is possible only if a star rookie appears. On February 1, Luhansk will play in Kyiv with the Dynamo youth team, and on the 9th they will clarify their relations with one of the leaders of the Lviv region championship - Demnea.

If the "base" of "Kolos" is still holding a recovery training camp in Irpen, the youth team has already played two matches at Makarov Memorials and celebrated two victories. Among the leading players so far are Oleksandr Chornomorets, who is recovering from an injury, and Artem Terekhov, whose daughter was born. Experienced goalkeeper Vasyl Lytvynenko, midfielders Serhiy Zuevych and Vasyl Koropetsky decided to get a job in other clubs. Kolos coach Ruslan Kostyshyn, who was named the best coach of the first league in 2018, is optimistic. He believes that the blacksmiths will be able to perform no worse in the spring than in the first part of the season.

The "base" of "Kolos" is being prepared in Irpen these days, and the youth team of Kovaliv won two victories at the Makarov Memorial. Photo by koloskovalivka.com

"Sumy" left almost all the players

So far, the position of head coach in "Rus" remains vacant. Negotiations with potential manager Leonid Kuchuk are ongoing, and it is difficult to say who else can join the coaching staff. Currently, Rukh footballers are stationed in Vynnyky, where the main focus is on working in the gym.

Prykarpattia decided to terminate contracts with Roman Proshak, Artur Komar and Andriy Gromyliak by mutual consent. Next week, Volodymyr Kovalyuk's wards will go to Yaremche, where they will hold a recovery phase, and in mid-February they will take part in a traditional tournament in Ivano-Frankivsk, where their rivals will be second-league teams from neighboring regions.

The sad news is coming from Sumy, where almost all the players have left the local team. It is also unknown who will head it and on whose support it will be. It is urgent to sound the alarm, otherwise Sumy region may be left without big football at all.