Volodymyr Yezerskyi: "We will do everything possible to fulfill the tasks in the Euro-2022 qualification"

05.10.2021 14:08

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

On October 6, the youth national team of Ukraine (players not older than 2003) will start the match against Malta in the qualifying round of Euro-2022 (U-19).

About with what luggage blue-yellows approach these competitions, in. at. head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine (U-19) Volodymyr Yezersky told the official website of the UAF. 

- Vladimir Ivanovich, how difficult is it to prepare the team for official matches in a few days?

- First of all, I would like to thank the UAF leadership for entrusting me with the duties of the U-19 national team coach. As for your question, we wanted to start collecting on October 1, and there were opportunities for that. However, given the tight schedule of matches of youth teams (this applies to Dynamo and Shakhtar), we managed to gather in full force only on the morning of the 3rd. The 4th was a difficult flight, on Tuesday we will have a pre-game training and the 6th at noon - the first game.

It is a pity that due to the lack of time for full training we did not succeed. Especially since we met in such a composition for the first time. In addition, some guys have injuries after club fights and need to be put on their feet.

- Did all the players you wanted to see come to this training camp?

- I am still getting acquainted with the team, so for the most part I focused on those guys who have previously played for this team. 

- Have you already managed to study your opponents in the qualification?

- The least information about our first opponent - the national team of Malta. I know that the Italians are building the national team vertical there. This year, they met twice for internal NTZ. And, by the way, the last round of the championship was postponed in Malta so that all national teams could better prepare for their matches.

The Finnish national team will convene for the eighth time in the last year. She has already had two friendly matches with the Swedes. As far as I know, the Finns have been working for a week, and in recent days - in Poland. In the national team of Finland, seven players play in the local top division, there are also representatives of the championships of England, Germany and Denmark.

As for the hosts of the competition, the Poles have already held several sparring matches this year. They are also preparing for the upcoming tournament for about a week.

I consider the national teams of Finland and Poland to be the favorites of the qualifying round. However, Ukraine will do everything possible to take one of the first two places that give the opportunity to break into the elite round of the Euro. I am grateful to all the clubs that delegated their players to this national team of Ukraine. We will do our best to achieve the main goal.

The squad of the youth national team of Ukraine (U-19)

Goalkeepers: Pavlo Isenko (Vorskla Poltava), Denys Tvardovskyi (Shakhtar Donetsk).

Defenders: Andriy Buleza, Eduard Kozik, Marian Farina (all - Shakhtar Donetsk), Mark Mampassi, Danylo Udod (both - Mariupol), Navin Malysh (Dynamo Kyiv).

Midfielders: Daniil Khrypchuk (Vorskla Poltava), Artur Mykytyshyn, Mykhailo Khromei, Oleg Ocheretko, Denis Shostak (all - Mariupol), Oleksandr Jacyk, Nazar Voloshin (both - Dynamo Kyiv), Ivan Losenko (Shakhtar Donetsk) , Ruslan Nepeipiev (Rukh Lviv), Yegor Yarmolyuk (Dnipro-1 Dnipro).

Forwards: Igor Gorbach (Dynamo Kyiv), Yegor Gunichev (Kramatorsk).

It will be recalled that in the Euro-2022 (U-19) qualifying round, Ukraine's youth team will play Malta (October 6), Finland (October 9) and Poland (October 12). According to the regulations, 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.