National Teams Hall of Fame. U-20: 2019 World Cup gold

18.05.2020 14:20

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Recent successes of Ukrainian teams, in particular, of the national team - in the Nations League і European Championship qualifyingas well as Ukraine U-XNUMX at U-20 World Cup XNUMX, supplemented the history of domestic football with new bright pages.

Three times before that, the youth national team of Ukraine played at the U-20 World Cup. And all three times left the group, but dropped out of the fight in the first stage of the playoffs - in the 1/8 finals. It didn't matter how our guys got to the world championship - in the role of vice-champions of Europe (2001 World Cup, coach - Anatoliy Kroshchenko), Euro semifinalists (2005 World Cup, coach - Oleksiy Mykhailychenko) or from the third place in the final group. (2015 World Cup, coach - Alexander Petrakov). The result was the same - 1/8 finals and tickets home.

The Ukrainians reached the 2019 World Cup (U-20), winning bronze medals at Euro 2018 (U-19) under the leadership of the same Alexander Petrakov, who already had experience of performing at the world level. And later he mentioned it, talking about the path to triumph - the most famous in the history of Ukrainian football. Prior to that, Ukraine could only boast of European gold in 2009 (U-19, coach - Yuri Kalitvintsev), and in 2019 also won the world crown!

The events of the World Cup in Poland have not yet been erased from the memory of fans, so we will not delve into the details of the matches. Note only that many factors played a role in this triumph: the skill of coaches and players, mutual understanding, team play, character, luck. 

Probably, for the first time in history, at such a high level, arbitrators took the side of Ukraine several times in controversial situations - thanks to the VAR system. In the quarterfinals, after watching the movie, the referee removed the Colombian player for a very dangerous jump, and in the semifinals in the last minutes, when Ukraine remained in the minority, the referee canceled the replay and canceled the Italians' goal for a foul that preceded Andriy Lunin's goal.

Photo fifa.com

By the way, about Lunin. He is the only one in this team who has already played for the national team of Ukraine. Another such executor could be Vitaliy Mykolenko, but he was injured the day before, and he was replaced in the application by Oleg Veremienko. No one could have predicted that Ukraine would go that far at the World Cup, so they decided to do without risk. And Mykolenko recovered quite quickly and at the same time already played for Andriy Shevchenko's team in the June matches of the Euro 2020 qualifiers. He could well have become a world champion. But it was not destined ...

And Lunin during the tournament managed to visit the camps of both national teams - U-20 and national. According to the agreement between the coaches, the most experienced goalkeeper of this generation, who was bought from Zora in the summer of 2018 by the famous Madrid "Real", was to hold a group tournament for the 2019 World Cup, then go to the national team to prepare for Euro 2020.

Photo fifa.com

Later, Shevchenko allowed Lunin to play for Petrakov's team in the 1/8 finals. During the quarterfinals, Lunin was in the camp of the main team of the country, sitting in reserve, and then returned to Poland to help the youth team win gold medals and become the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

Photo fifa.com

In addition to him, the individual awards of the 2019 World Cup were also won by Serhiy Buletsa ("Silver Ball") and Danilo Sikan ("Silver Boots"), who lost in terms of goals only to the incredible Norwegian Erling Holland (nine goals in the match with the Honduran team and no more effective strikes, but that was enough for the Golden Boots).

Naturally, the success of the highest level of the Ukrainian U-20 national team deserved special awards from the Ukrainian Football Association, which was announced immediately after the winning final by the President of the UAF, a member of the UEFA Executive Committee Andriy Pavelko. The winning team received a well-deserved championship gift - "Evening of Champions" and a check for $ 1 as a bonus for a historic triumph!

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

National team of Ukraine at the 2019 World Cup (U-20)

Step by step

Ukraine - USA - 2: 1

Goals: Buletsa (26), Popov (51) - Servania (32).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Popov, Tsitaishvili (Kashchuk, 78), Khakhlov (Czech, 86), Kornienko, Buletsa (Ustimenko, 75), Supryaga, Beskorovainy, Musolitin, Konoplya.

Referee: M. N'Diaye (Senegal).

Booked: Tsitaishvili (9), Musolitin (22), Bondar (60) - Mendes (50), Darkin (76).

May 24. Bielsko-Biala. City Stadium. 4 viewers. Group Tournament.

Qatar - Ukraine - 0: 1

Goal: Popov (59).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Popov, Tsitaishvili (Kashchuk, 62), Khakhlov (Czech, 46), Kornienko, Buletsa (Sikan, 73), Supryaga, Beskorovainy, Musolitin, Konoplya.

Referee: E. Martinez (Honduras).

Booked: Abdurisag (48) - Khakhlov (22), Bulets (47), Hemp (69). Sent off: Peyer (85).

May 27. Quiet. City Stadium. 3 viewers. Group Tournament.

Nigeria - Ukraine - 1: 1

Goals: Tijani (51, penalty) - Sikan (30).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Safronov, Popov, Cech, Beskorovainy, Sikan (Buletsa, 46), Dryshlyuk, Ustimenko (Supryaga, 72), Snurnitsyn (Kornienko, 46), Kashchuk.

Referee: F. Rapalini (Argentina).

Booked: Tijani (36), Effiom (56) - Snurnitsyn (5), Popov (50).

May 30. Bielsko-Biala. City Stadium. 3 143 spectators. Group Tournament.

Ukraine - Panama - 4: 1

Goals: Sikan (23, 45 + 1), Popov (41), Buletsa (83) - Walker (50).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Popov, Chekh, Tsitaishvili (Kashchuk, 63), Kornienko, Buletsa (Ustimenko, 85), Beskorovainy, Sikan (Supryaga, 67), Dryshlyuk, Konoplya.

Referee: L. Gonzalez (Uruguay).

Booked: Sikan (64), Dryshlyuk (90) - Trejos (54).

June 3. Quiet. City stadium. 7 219 spectators. 1/8 finals.

Colombia - Ukraine - 0: 1

Goal: Sikan (11).

Ukraine: Kucheruk, Bondar, Popov (Safronov, 86), Chekh, Kornienko, Buletsa, Beskorovainy, Sikan (Supryaga, 61), Dryshlyuk, Konoplya, Kashchuk (Tsitaishvili, 46).

Referee: M. Horbal (Algeria).

Booked: Balanta (27), Palma (35), Arroyo (38), Angulo (44) - Kashchuk (24), Tsitaishvili (78), Beskorovainy (88).

Sent off: Carbonero (86).

June 7. Lodz. City stadium. 8 443 spectators. 1/4 finals.

Ukraine - Italy - 1: 0

Goal: Bullets (65).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Popov, Chekh (Khakhlov, 69), Kornienko, Buletsa (Safronov, 83), Beskorovainy, Sikan (Supryaga, 63), Dryshlyuk, Konoplya, Kashchuk.

Referee: R. Klaus (Brazil).

Booked: Sikan (1), Popov (55) - Ranieri (75).

Sent off: Popov (79).

June 11. Gdynia. City stadium. 7 776 spectators. 1/2 finals.

Ukraine - South Korea - 3: 1

Goals: Spouse (34, 53), Tsitaishvili (89) - Lee Kang Ying (5, penalty).

Ukraine: Lunin, Bondar, Safronov, Tsitaishvili, Khakhlov (Czech, 56), Kornienko, Buletsa (Kashchuk, 88), Supryaga (Sikan, 63), Beskorovainy, Dryshlyuk, Hemp.

Referee: I. Elfat (USA).

Booked: Cannabis (86) - Kim Hyun Wu (33), Lee Jae Ik (56), O Se Hong (78).

June 15. Lodz. City stadium. 16 344 spectators. Final.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

The composition of the national team of Ukraine at the 2019 World Cup (U-20)

National Teams Hall of Fame. U-19: Euro 2018 bronze

National Teams Hall of Fame. U-19: Euro 2009 gold

National team's Hall of Fame. U-21: Euro 2006 silver

National Teams Hall of Fame. U-19: Euro 2004 bronze

National team's Hall of Fame. U-18: Euro 2000 silver

National Teams Hall of Fame. U-16: Euro 1994 bronze