Mykola Kostenko: Ukraine have completed a global task - reached the Euroleague Super Final

20.06.2021 16:01

Mykola Kostenko, the head coach of the Ukrainian beach soccer team, commented on the performance of our team in the selection for the 2021 Euroleague Super Final.

Following the results of the qualifying tournament of the Euroleague-2021 in Nazar, Portugal, the national team of Ukraine in beach soccer made its way to the Superfinal of the competition. Ukrainians defeated Germany in extra time and Azerbaijan - in the penalty shootout and yielded to Portugal as well on penalties. As a result, the blue-yellows scored three points and took seventh place in the overall table, which guarantees participation in the Superfinal. 

The head coach of the national team of Ukraine Mykola Kostenko summed up the results of our team's performance at the tournament: “The national team of Ukraine fulfilled its global task by reaching the Euroleague Super Final. As for the quality of the game, there are no special claims to work in defense, except for some nuances of individual character. In the same match with Portugal, for example, the guys made completely optional mistakes.

But the attack still needs work. Here, major adjustments to our game were made to the rules. The style of the Ukrainian national team has always been the use of the goalkeeper as the fifth field player. The attacks started from the goalkeeper, who threatened the opponent's goal and forced him to rebuild in the course of the game. But now there have been changes: the goalkeeper can own the ball anywhere in the field for only four seconds. And this radically changes our tactics from the very beginning of the attack. Therefore, we now have a tactical adjustment in this regard, which is reflected in our actions in the offensive.

There were a lot of good moments in the match with the Portuguese with the updated tactics, but, unfortunately, the implementation failed a bit. But the very presence of these moments is a big plus. So now we are working hard on this aspect of the game. And in general - it's good that we passed the tournament without injuries, all the guys are in a good mood, we will prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. "

It will be recalled that the 2021 Euroleague Super Final with the participation of the Ukrainian national team will take place on September 8-12 in the Portuguese town of Figueira da Foz. And tomorrow the Ukrainian team in Nazareth will start the match with Turkey in the selection of the 2021 World Cup.