Ruslan Rotan: “The guys won't have to tune into Denmark once again. Team motivation will be sufficient »

22.10.2019 11:00

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Ruslan Rotan believes that the whole fight for the Euro-2021 (U-21) is still ahead.

Results of the training camp of the youth national team of Ukraine, which held a match of the qualifying tournament Euro-2021 (U-21) against Romania (0: 3) and a friendly match with Greece (2-0), head coach of the blue and yellow Ruslan Rotan.

- Ruslan Petrovich, after three qualifying matches, the youth national team of Ukraine put itself in a difficult position in the fight for a place in the European Championship?

- Nobody is going to give up, I am sure that all struggle is still ahead. Of course, we wanted a different result, so we deserve criticism.

Not as an excuse, but I will say that our path is difficult, we are radically changing the scheme of the game, so it is difficult to get used to the players so quickly. It's all new to them. But, I repeat, we do not give up the fight, the "youth" wants to be at the European Championships. I believe that we can do it.

- Were there any positive moments?

- Of course. It is important that the boys have a desire. The only thing left of the sediment is the match with the Romanian national team. The coaching staff expected something completely different from the players in terms of ball control. We disassembled this game, explained everything to the wards. I hope that in the future we will play better with the first number. A large number of high-quality sparring matches organized by the UAF should help us in this.

- Is the next match against the national team of Denmark, which will take place on November 15, decisive for the blue and yellows?

- The guys will not need to be set up as the leader of the group once again. Motivation in the national team of Ukraine will be sufficient. But the mentors first of all demand from the performers the quality of the game, not the result. The result will come if the team's actions are coordinated, which is what we are trying to explain to the wards.

- It seemed that at the September and October training camp in paired matches the "youth" performed better in the second matches ...

- Our football is different from what the performers show in their clubs. So the longer we are together, the better the guys start fulfilling our requirements. But I would like the players to switch to the national team match faster, which I always ask them to do. And the sooner they understand this, the better it will be for all of us.

- You sometimes transferred Cheberka from defense to the middle of the field. Do the "youth" have the biggest problems there?

- There were nuances. But, in my opinion, Cheberko is a player of the midfield center. He is quite well prepared physically, intelligently, so we try to use him there more often.

- The national team of Ukraine missed four of the five goals in the last 15 minutes of the match. Why so?

- What is most alarming is the different game tone of the guys, so sometimes they are not enough for 90 minutes. And on this topic, we have a conversation with the wards that a professional, despite all the difficulties, must be physically ready not for 90, but for 120 minutes.

- Are there any footballers who have disappointed you to some extent?

- Young performers are characterized by instability, but I am confident in all the players I work with. I see potential in them. The difficulties, I believe, are temporary, so far the fact is that the guys need to start understanding our requirements as soon as possible.

The youth team wants to be similar to the main team of the country, which I congratulate on reaching the final of the Euro. They are good fellows, they did their job qualitatively. We are striving for such football.

- Did you talk to Andriy Shevchenko about releasing Andriy Lunin and Vitaliy Mykolenko to the "youth" for the match against the Danes?

- We will still communicate with the head coach of the first team. But she is also the first to have the best domestic performers. That's why we have to help the main team of the country with staff. But if Lunin and Mykolenko appear in the youth team, we will be happy about it.