Serhiy Sapronov: "Natalia Zinchenko paid tribute to the girls from the WU-17 national team for fighting

03.03.2020 16:21

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Ukraine's WU-17 girls' national team in Kharkiv held the penultimate stage of preparation for the elite round of the Euro 2020 selection, which will be hosted by Norway at the end of March.

In addition to the actual training process, Serhiy Sapronov's wards played two sparring matches with the strongest domestic women's club teams - Kharkiv's Zhytlobud-1 and Zhytlobud-2.

- I was satisfied with the meeting, - said the head coach of the national team Sergei Sapronov in a comment to the official website of the UAF. - First of all, he was informative, because I was able to see what my wards are worth in confrontations with more experienced and skilled rivals.

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- But still - how do you explain the minimal defeat of the team from Zhitlobud-1 (1: 2) and in two days the defeat from Zhitlobud-2 (0: 6)?

- There are objective reasons for this. In the second match, due to minor injuries, I could not use several leading defenders, which was used by rivals. In my opinion, my wards did not deserve defeat with such a score, but at the end of the match they simply lacked strength. Still, sparring with the strongest domestic women's teams for two days is a very difficult test. Although the leader of the national women's national team of Ukraine Natalia Zinchenko paid tribute to the girls for their fighting spirit, the desire not to give up in every episode of the game. She also focused on the mistakes that we will try to correct at the final meeting.

- And what, in your opinion, are still of concern?

- We really need to strengthen the right defender and left midfielder.

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- Did you manage to see all the players you called to Kharkiv in action?

- No, unfortunately, goalkeeper Kateryna Boklach, midfielder Ruslana Levchenko and forward Inna Glushchenko fell ill.

- To from'trip to Norway is still the final stage of preparation…

- We will meet again on March 16, but in Kyiv. And although sparring is no longer planned, I still want to review the quartet of potential collections. First of all, those who operate on the flanks.