Oleksiy Mykhailychenko: "We could have decided the fate of the meeting without bringing the case to a penalty"

09.07.2020 03:39

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

The head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Oleksiy Mykhailychenko commented on the victory of his team in the final match of the Cup of Ukraine-2019/2020, in which the white and blues defeated Poltava's Vorskla, winning in penalty shootout:

- I don't think such matches should be analyzed. This is a real cup game, where there was intrigue, nerves, unused moments, mistakes - all together. Extra time, penalty shootout ... A real Cup final. I want to thank Yuri Maksimov and his team, because they once again showed that an unimportant place in the table - everyone has the right to fight for the Cup, and everyone has a chance to win.

— Popov was not even in the application. What is the reason for his absence? To what extent did the Orphan live up to your expectations?

- Popov has not yet returned to the general group, so he did not play in the final. He works according to an individual plan. But he could not help coming here, as well as Pivarich, as well as players who did not get to the application. They are all part of our cage. I hope Popov will return to the field soon. As for the Orphan, we know him as a football player with a good psyche. He got his chance, had a good match. The previous game of the championship gave us the opportunity to look at it. In my opinion, in the cup match we did not make a mistake with the choice. Of course, there were mistakes, but they were all there. In general, Alexander played quite well - especially for his first Cup final.

— How satisfied are you with the refereeing?

- It is better for me to evaluate the game of my team than refereeing. I understand that this is a cup match, tension, we quickly missed a goal. However, it seems to me that we could have decided the fate of the meeting without bringing the case to a penalty. Yes, Vorskla also had moments. But rivals did not have such chances as ours.

— Verbych fought as a center forward. This is not the first time Benjamin has played on the cutting edge. Does this mean that he suits you in this position more than the nominal strikers available in the team?

- We thought that Verbych would be more effective now. The next matches are another conversation. We do not have the opportunity to build a long-term strategy, because we have a game every three or four days. Therefore, there will be enough work for everyone. The most important thing is to realize the moments we have.