Oleksandr Kosenko: “We received information before the World Cup qualifying games”

05.12.2019 14:01

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Futsal head coach Oleksandr Kosenko has analyzed the results of friendly matches against Croatia.

In early December in Cherkasy blue and yellow held two sparring matches against the Croatian team, winning the first (3:1) and giving way in the second (3:4). In an interview Futsal Association of Ukraine YouTube channel Alexander Kosenko analyzed the following results:

- Useful games with a good opponent. In my opinion, the Croatian national team is one of the best in Europe. We needed such sparring. It is good that we managed to hold them. Of course, it is a pity that we lost in the second match, because we wanted to end it with a positive result. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Let's analyze why this happened. We somewhat missed the beginning of the meeting and its end. Well, we received information before the World Cup qualifiers, so we will prepare very seriously.

- In the second match you missed n 'field player. So tried to work out this component before your formal meetings?

- Back in the pre-match setup, we told the guys that with any result we will work out this component so that they are ready. We deliberately played five field games. Now there is something to analyze.

- What are the next plans of the national team of Ukraine?

- It is good to prepare for the matches of the elite round of selection for the 2020 World Cup. The guys will approach them through performances for their clubs. We asked them to prepare themselves as much as possible for these important games, because the World Cup is held every four years, and everyone dreams of getting there.

Recall that, as a result of the draw elite round of the 2020 World Cup blue and yellow have reached the group B, where they will meet with the teams of Spain, Serbia and France. Quartet duels will be held on February 1-4 in Nis, Serbia.

The winners of each of the four groups of the elite round will go directly to the World Cup. The teams that take second place in the groups will advance to the playoffs, where two more World Cup tickets will be drawn. Butt matches are scheduled for April 9 and 12, 2020. The confrontation will be two-match. In case of participation in the playoffs, the national team of Ukraine will meet with a representative of Group A and will play the first match at home (April 9), and the return match - away (April 12).

In total, according to the UEFA quota, seven representatives of the Old World will be included in the finals of the World Cup, which will take place in Lithuania from September 12 to October 4, 2020 (Lithuania being automatically allowed to the final). 

We will also add that AFC (Asia) will be able to send five teams to the 2020 World Cup, CAF (Africa) - three, CONCACAF (North and Central America) - four, CONMEBOL (South America) - four, OFC (Oceania) - one. A total of 24 teams will take part in the world championship.