Natalia Zinchenko: Japan and our future rivals in the 2023 World Cup qualifying, Spain, act in a similar manner

06.06.2021 13:31

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Immediately after yesterday's final of the Ukrainian Women's Cup, our main team gathered in Kyiv for a training camp to prepare for a friendly match with Japan.

- Since this confrontation will take place in Japan on June 10, the whole training process will take place in Hiroshima, where we are going today, - said the head coach of the women's national team of Ukraine Natalia Zinchenko in a comment to the official website of the UAF. - After all, it is necessary to take into account both logistical issues and the need for acclimatization.

- How did the option of holding this sparring come about?

- This match will take place as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Japan Football Association, and it is very good that the football leadership of the two countries has reached an agreement. After all, Japanese footballers are completing preparations for the Olympic tournament, and our turn is selection for the World Cup. By the way, I noticed that the Japanese, with whom we have never met, in the manner of the game resemble the Spanish national team, with which we will clarify relations in October. They are technical, fast, persistent…

- Is the national team of Ukraine going to Japan in combat?

- No. Tamila Khimich is still involved in matches for her club - Croatian "Split", and Daria Kravets from French "Reims" is injured. It was decided not to invite Natia Pantsulai to this meeting. Unfortunately, in yesterday's cup final Daria Apanashchenko left the field due to injuries, she will not help us either. We expected that Olga Boychenko would continue to play for the national team, but she decided to focus only on the game for Zhytlobud-1 at the club level.

- So, a chance to prove yourself with'appeared in yesterday's backups?

- To be precise, there is only one newcomer to the national team - Khrystyna Pereviznyk from Ladomyr (Volodymyr-Volynskyi), others have already been called up for joint training. I hope they live up to expectations.

- Finally, I would like to hear your comment on yesterday's final cup confrontation "Zhytlobud-1" - "Zhytlobud-2" (0: 1), in which 17 players of the national team of Ukraine took part at once.

- I have already mentioned that Apanashchenko was injured, and we will find out only next week how serious her injury is. As expected, it was a real cup final, when no one wanted to give up. The football players of Zhytlobud-2, led by me, adopted the game from defense, hoping for a quick transition to offensive operations. This plan worked, maybe we were lucky somewhere, but in my opinion, the events on the field were controlled by my wards.

Of course, we are very pleased to have won the trophy and to some extent rehabilitated in front of our fans for their performance in the Ukrainian championship, where they lost the first place to Zhytlobud-1. However, this is history, now the main thing - how to adjust to a duel with the Japanese…

The squad of the national women's team of Ukraine

Goalkeepers: Iryna Sanina (Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv), Daryna Bondarchuk (Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv).

Defenders: Lyubov Shmatko, Anastasia Voronina, Anna Petryk, Olga Basanska (Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv), Kateryna Korsun, Iryna Podolska, Anastasia Filenko (all Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv), Maryna Shainyuk (Ladomyr Volodymyr-Volynsky).

Midfielders: Olga Ovdiychuk, Iryna Kochneva (both Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv), Yana Kalinina, Veronika Andrukhiv, Yana Malakhova (all Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv), Yulia Khrystyuk (Old Dominion, USA), Khrystyna Pereviznyk Ladomir ”Volodymyr-Volynsky).

Forwards: Nadiya Kunina, Anna Voronina (both Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv), Nikol Kozlova (Virginia Tech, USA), Victoria Girin (Ladomir Volodymyr-Volynsky).