Roman Yakuba: "Every victory adds a rating to the national team of Ukraine, therefore, except for the first place, we do not consider other options ..."

12.11.2019 19:02

Photo by Andrii Mayorov

Defender of the youth team of Ukraine U-19 Roman Yakuba is confident that the team will make every effort to take first place in the group qualifying tournament of the European Championship.

On the eve of the performance in Sweden in the UEFA Euro-2020 Qualifying Round (U-19), captain of the youth national team of Ukraine Roman Yakuba answered questions from the official website of the UAF.

- Roman, the national team of Ukraine will have almost no time to prepare for official matches. Could this somehow affect?

- There were no Dynamo players at the last meeting, but the guys and I have been working together for a long time, so we remember very well everything that was played in recent years. We know each other well. Therefore, I do not think that we may have any difficulties in the game in terms of mutual understanding. The main thing is to perform a coaching setup, then everything will be fine.

- The rivals of the national team of Ukraine are the teams of Estonia, Slovenia and Sweden. Who is the favorite of the group?

- I think that Sweden, because the qualifying matches will be held in this country. The Swedes will have the support of spectators. However, we are ready for this, as we have performed at international competitions more than once. We can say that the team is already used to it. We will play for our relatives, for the country. This will give us responsibility and a thirst for struggle. Time will tell what we are capable of, but I have no doubt that the guys will give their all to win.

- Head coach Oleg Kuznetsov said that he would set up the team to win first place ...

- We ourselves understand everything perfectly. Each victory adds to the rating of the national team of Ukraine, so, except for the first place, we do not consider other options ...

It will be recalled that in the qualifying round of the 2020 European Championship (U-19) our team will play against Estonia (November 13), Slovenia (November 16) and Sweden (November 19). The two strongest teams from each group and the best among the teams, which will take the third places (according to the results of meetings with the two leaders of their group), will go to the elite round. Matches of this stage will take place in the spring of 2020.

The winners of the seven elite round groups will make their way to the final stage, which will take place in July 2020 in Northern Ireland.