Andriy Shevchenko: “We were lucky with a goal, but luck had to be earned”

26.03.2019 02:37

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

After winning match Ukraine national team in Luxembourg head coach of blue and yellow Andriy Shevchenko spoke to the press at a press conference.

- They say that the stronger the lucky. But was Ukraine stronger than the game today?

- This match can be evaluated in different ways. It is difficult to speak on hot tracks, it is necessary to reconsider it once again. Passing it all through is the complexity of coaching. Especially such difficult games ...

The most important thing today is the result. Also a big thank you to the fans who came to support our team. Their presence helped the boys fight to the end. As a result, Tsygankov earned a free kick, after which we went ahead. Yes, there was an own goal, but luck must be earned.

I want to make a big compliment to Luxembourg. At a pre-match press conference, I said that this team is able to play football. Today's opponent showed excellent physical data. The team was ready, ran to the end. She has some good fast players who have caused us big problems. There were two things that influenced the game. We lost a lot of single combats and rebounds. In this respect, the team did not perform well.

— How serious was Alexander Karavaev's injury?

- He has two incisions - one has just been sewn up, and the other will become clear after his return to the club.

— Have you ever dreamed that the Ukrainian national team would finish the first part of the selection in the first place?

- We were preparing for two difficult matches. March is always a difficult month for Ukrainian teams. Games during this period have always been difficult for the national team. Somewhere the not so good form of our players affects. Of course, I did not expect such a difficult second fight. Many mistakes were made, the guys somehow lost the structure of the game. But they believed in themselves to the end and fought, even if someone lacked strength. I can't make any claims against them. We were lucky and we won this match.

You can always expect surprises from Luxembourg in matches on its field. You can come and play well, win, or the match will be like today. In recent years, this team has created problems for all opponents, which we knew well.