Oleksandr Kosenko: "Tournament in Ivano-Frankivsk - dress rehearsal before the qualifying matches of the 2020 World Cup"

18.09.2019 15:01

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Head coach of the Ukraine national football team Oleksandr Kosenko spoke about the tasks that our team faces in the friendly tournament in Ivano-Frankivsk.

On September 22-24, the Ukrainian futsal team will take part in a friendly tournament in Ivano-Frankivsk, where it will play against the teams of Georgia and Romania. The coach of the blue and yellows Oleksandr Kosenko told about the main goal of the national team in these competitions and described our rivals.

"The team will start training on September 20, but the legionnaires will come on the 21st, because the boys play in their championships. This tournament is a dress rehearsal before the qualifying matches of the 2020 World Cup. They start in October, so this is the last chance to test your strength.

Fortunately, all of our best players have been brought together and they will all take part in the tournament. There are no new names at the moment, all the guys have been at least once, but they were called to the national team camp. 

Both Georgia and Romania are strong teams and good sparring partners for us. Both teams are played by naturalized Brazilians, and in Georgia they play a key role. They spend much more time on the field than Georgian players. Plus, this team has a very experienced goalkeeper - Zviad Kupatadze. 

The Romanian national team relies more on its own players, but even there - 50 to 50 with the Brazilians. The Romanians have a young coach, Robert Lupu, who played in Spain, so he is a fan of the Spanish style. Ahead now they have a young tall Brazilian, a real pillar.

In general, both teams are fast, technical, and combine futsal. Therefore, it will be interesting to test yourself on the eve of the qualifying matches of the 2020 World Cup in matches with such rivals.

Of course, the most important thing for us is to put the game of the national team of Ukraine. But at the same time, this game should pay off. You can show a very beautiful futsal, but not achieve the desired result. As the selection for the World Cup is already in a month, the result of the matches with Georgia and Romania will be important as well, ”Oleksandr Kosenko said.

Formerly a mentor of the national team of Ukraine announced the composition of our team for the tournament in Ivano-Frankivsk. 

Tournament schedule

22.09 17.00     Ukraine - Romania

23.09 19.00 Romania - Georgia

24.09 19.00 Georgia - Ukraine 

It will be recalled that the matches of the main qualifying round for the 2020 World Cup will take place on October 22-27. Rivals of the blue-yellows will be Slovenia, Macedonia and Kosovo. According to the rules, the top two teams from the group will make it to the elite round.