Volodymyr Yezerskyi: "During sparring we will try to acquaint the guys with our ideas and balance the lineup"

31.08.2021 15:05

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Volodymyr Yezerskyi, the new head coach of the U-19 youth national team of Ukraine, has taken up his duties.

Due to the fact that the coach of the youth team (players not older than 2003 born) Alexander Petrakov was appointed acting head coach of the national team of Ukraine, the U-19 team was led by Volodymyr Yezersky, who in a short time needs to prepare the team for Euro-2022 (U-19) qualifying round..

On August 30, the helmsman began a training camp with his team and answered questions from the official UAF website.

- Volodymyr Ivanovych, how did your appointment to the position of head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine U-19 take place?

- I used to be the coach of the national team born in 2002, but since the qualification for the European Championship was canceled last spring, I switched to the team born in 2006 (U-15), starting to be engaged in selection. Due to the perturbations in the main team of the country, led by Alexander Petrakov, Alexander Vasilyevich himself proposed my candidacy for the post of coach of the U-19 national team, for which I am grateful to him.

We have started the collection, which will last until September 7. After quarantine, this is the first and last stage of preparation for the qualification for the European Championship, which will take place in October. Over the next week I will have to get acquainted with almost the whole team, but Alexander Petrakov also gave me a lot of information about the players.

- What are the plans of your team at the current meeting?

- We will have a few days for training sessions, and then we will play two friendly matches, on September 3 - with Vorskla U-19, and on the 5th - with a mixed team of Kolos. During these sparring matches we will try to acquaint the guys with our ideas and balance the composition. Despite the fact that this is more of a breeding collection, there is no time for reflection.

The roster of the youth national team of Ukraine U-19

Goalkeepers: Timur Puzankov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Pavlo Isenko (Vorskla Poltava).

Defenders: Andriy Buleza, Eduard Kozik (both Shakhtar Donetsk), Danylo Udod, Mark Mampassi (both Mariupol), Oleksiy Malaki (Kolos Kovalivka).

Midfielders: Oleksandr Jacyk, Navin Malysh (both Dynamo Kyiv), Mykhailo Khromei, Artur Mykytyshyn (both Mariupol), Yegor Yarmolyuk, Mykita Kononov (both Dnipro-1 Dnipro), Daniil Khrypchuk, Ivan Nesterenko (both - Vorskla Poltava), Maksym Khlan (Zorya Luhansk), Ivan Varfolomeev (Rukh Lviv).

Forwards: Kiril Popov, Nazar Voloshin, Igor Gorbach (all - Dynamo Kyiv), Denis Shostak (Mariupol), Denis Teslyuk (Volyn Lutsk).

This training will be dedicated to the preparation of the blue and yellows for the qualifying round of Euro-2022 (U-19), which will be held in Poland from 6 to 12 October. There, in addition to the hosts, the national team of Ukraine will play with Finland and Malta. According to the rules, the winners of the first two places in the quartets of this round and the best team among those who will take third place in the matches with the first and second teams, will join Portugal in the elite qualifying round. There will be 28 national teams divided into seven groups, the winners of which at Euro 2022 will form a company in Slovakia.