Ruslan Rotan: "We have already forgotten Serbia, tomorrow is a responsible match with Armenia"

06.09.2021 20:30

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

The head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine Ruslan Rotan believes that an important task in the future match with the Armenians will be to deprive the opponent of the ball.

Today at the STC. V. Bannikov, the youth national team of Ukraine held an open training session before the match of the qualifying tournament Euro-2023 (U-21) with Armenia, which will take place tomorrow in Kovalivka at the Kolos Stadium (starting at 19.00). Ruslan Rotan, the head coach of the blue and yellows, answered journalists' questions.

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

- Ruslan Petrovich, the last time the youth started in the qualifying tournament was 12 years ago. In the meeting with the Serbs, what percentage of your wards fulfilled the plan for the game?

- I would not like to talk about any interest. The main thing is that the team came out as a single team for this match. Yes, at the end of the match not everything worked out, they started to play to keep the score, but the guys did everything that was required of them for one and a half times. The team fought for the result and gave all their strength for it, it was visible on the guys in the locker room after the game.

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

- Despite the victory, what were the negative moments?

- Naturally, there were such situations, but we have already analyzed them, pointed out mistakes, so I hope that the guys understood everything.

- Armenia is ahead. What is the main strength of this team?

- Like all residents of the south, they feel good with the ball, it can be seen in their matches, which we watched. At the same time, they feel good in this component both in defense and attack. Therefore, we must try to deprive the opponent of their main trump card.

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

— Dmytro Kryskiv presented the national team of Ukraine with a victory over Serbia. Was there a gift for him?

- (Smiles.) Gifts will be a little later. Now all the concentration is on the match with the Armenian team.

- Georgy Sudakov said that the youth national team of Ukraine is similar in style to the national team of Andriy Shevchenko's time. How similar is the youth to Oleksandr Petrakov's team now?

- I think the national team has the handwriting that Andriy Shevchenko instilled. Oleksandr Petrakov's team style will appear a little later, perhaps after a couple of matches.

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

- And what is your handwriting?

- We have been trying to instill ball control in the team since our first training camp, we pay a lot of attention to pressure. I think a meeting with the coach of the national team Alexander Petrakov is not far off. We will definitely talk, hear his vision of national team development. But in general it is a process of more than one day.

- The youth team beat one of its main competitors in the selection. What are your expectations from the current qualification?

- We have no expectations. We tune in to each subsequent game. We have already forgotten Serbia, tomorrow is a responsible match with Armenia.