One year ago triumph: in 2019 Ukraine U-20 became the world champion!

15.06.2020 11:00

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Today is exactly a year since the day when the national team of Ukraine won the world championship in the age category U-20 in Poland.

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). In the 1/8 finals we failed and went home.

But in 2019 everything turned out differently. It is possible that Petrakov's experience became apparent. After all, he has already participated in the World Cup as head coach and made some conclusions. In addition, his wards, born in 1999, managed to play in the finals of the European Championships - in the U-17 and U-19 age categories - and gained an understanding of the value of each goal scored and conceded in such a short distance.

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We had to start performances at the 2019 World Cup (U-20) with a difficult opponent - the US team. Thanks to the goals of Dynamo Kyiv (Serhiy Buletsa and Denys Popov) they managed to snatch the victory - 2: 1. It was difficult with the national team of Qatar, when again the decisive ball was scored by defender Popov (1: 0). The draw with Nigeria (1: 1) allowed the Ukrainians to consolidate their first place in Group D. Danilo Sikan, the future owner of the Silver Boots, scored his first goal in the tournament.

In the 1/8 finals - at the same stage at which Ukraine usually dropped out of the fight - had to play against Panama. Not a very stellar opponent who failed to create a decent resistance - 4: 1. The hero was the same Sikan, on whose account - two effective shots. Once again the scorers of the first matches - Popov and Bulets - were noted.

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In the quarterfinals on the way to Petrakov's wards was the team of Colombia, which failed to respond to the goal of the same Sikan. The pupil of Zhytomyr football and Lviv UFK-Karpaty (at the time of the World Cup he represented Mariupol, where he played on loan from Shakhtar) already in the 11th minute won the fight against defenders and goalkeeper and scored the fourth in the tournament. The end of the meeting was quite nervous, and the referee had to remove one of the Colombians - for excessive cruelty - after watching a video in the VAR system.

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This match, by the way, was the only one in which Andriy Lunin, the goalkeeper of the national team of Ukraine, did not take part. During the game, he was in the camp of Andriy Shevchenko's team, but returned very quickly - to help the U-20 team win gold medals, and to become the best goalkeeper of the World Cup.

Already in the semifinal match against Italy, it was Lunin who defended the goal and missed only in the last minutes, but the referee canceled the goal after watching the video, because in fact before the goal the opponents broke the rules. Therefore, the fate of the pass to the final was decided by a single goal, which was also scored by Bulets - the future owner of the "Silver Ball" of the 2019 World Cup.

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In the final, the Ukrainians had to play with the team of South Korea, well known for the March friendly match. A few months before the World Cup, Petrakov's wards defeated the Asians - 1: 0. The only goal then in the 5th minute was scored by Bulets. But in Poland in the 5th minute the Koreans scored. They held the lead until the 34th minute, when Vladislav Supryaga scored in return, from whom a bright game was expected much earlier. At the beginning of the second half Supryaga scored for the second time, and the point after a great race from his own half of the field was set by Georgy Tsitaishvili - 3: 1.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

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 fifa.com

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

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov