Oleg Kuznetsov: “At the last meeting the teams worked without 15 major players”

03.05.2019 12:07

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Oleh Kuznetsov, the head coach of the U-18 youth team of Ukraine, has no claims to his wives about his dedication.

Yesterday in the youth team of Ukraine (players not older than 2001 year of birth) ended the game during which the blue and yellow played two sparring with the Turkish national team (U-18). The results of this work were summed up by the head coach of Ukrainians Oleg Kuznetsov.

- Olezhe Volodymyrovych, was the last training camp the most difficult of all held with this team, taking into account the personnel aspect?

- Maybe. Anyway, for the last two years I don't remember us working without 15 main players. But we are already used to the absence of players from top clubs and we are calm about it.

- Before the second match with the Turks, the national team was left with only 16 players ...

- We called up 20 players, but at the last moment, for some reason, Karpaty did not release Zhelizko, and Pinchuk and Pidruchny arrived with injuries. In addition, in the first match, Biblik was injured. Although it is not serious, but in the second fight he could not help us.

- Given all the above, is it difficult to draw any conclusions based on the results of recent sparring?

- It is difficult not to oppose such a strong team as Turkey in the strongest lineup. But I have no complaints about the dedication of the players, because the guys played in front of their spectators, relatives. Although it is difficult to work out any tactical options, when there is only one pre-game training. The guys tried to rebuild in accordance with the tips in the course of matches.

- You said that you will not be able to count on all the best at the next meeting…

- Apart from Dynamo, most likely, there will be no Shakhtar players. We will have only 10-11 players left, so we need to look for half of the squad somewhere else. In the Slovak Cup, it will now be even more difficult to face teams such as Croatia, Spain and the Czech Republic.