Yurii Moroz: "I am grateful to the clubs for the high-quality training of football players for the national team of Ukraine"

01.11.2022 14:05

Photo of UAF press service

The head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine (football players not older than 2006) Yuriy Moroz was satisfied with the way his wards followed the instructions on the field.

In the qualifying round of Euro-2023 (U-17), which ended, the youth national team of Ukraine took first place, ahead of the teams of Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein and the hosts of the competition — Bosnia and Herzegovina. The official website of the UAF asked the head coach of the blue and yellow team Yuriy Moroz to sum up the results of the performance.

— To Yury Leontiyovych, the national team of Ukraine won its group. Are you satisfied with the actions of your wards?

- Absolutely. The picture of the game was visible. The guys tried to fulfill everything we agreed on. I liked how the team pressed, reacted to changes on the football field. We made good use of width, depth, that is, everything that we worked on before the tournament. Of course, I won't say that everything went perfectly, but I also liked the game discipline.

— Did the decisive match with the Bosnians turn out to be difficult?

- So. But I think we made this game more difficult ourselves. After convincing victories in the first two matches, the task was accomplished. After all, child psychology affects all these things. Maybe there was even a lack of work on the part of the coaching staff, as the first half turned out sluggish, a draw. But after the break there was more aggression, desire, the half turned out to be dynamic. But, unfortunately, we did not reach the maximum result.

— Matvyi Ponomarenko scored seven of the 13 goals scored by the Ukrainian national team. A capable guy?

— Today, it is probably premature to talk about his abilities, but the player has good qualities, and the goals scored are a confirmation of that. I would commend the whole team. And, of course, I would like to thank the clubs for the quality training of the boys. We only needed to unite the team in terms of the game.

The composition of U-17 youth team of Ukraine

Goalkeepers: Markiyan Bakus (Rukh Lviv), Vyacheslav Surkis (Zorya Luhansk), Marko Kessel (Slavia, Czech Republic).

Defenders: Vladyslav Zakharchenko, Maksym Korobov, Denys Dykyi, Yehor Rudenko (all Zorya Luhansk), Artur Bakai (Salzburg, Austria), Danylo Garazha (Dnipro-1 Dnipro), Oleksiy Bezruchuk (Kolos Kovalivka).

Midfielders: Viktor Tsukanov, Denys Smetana (both Shakhtar Donetsk), Davyd Bilyi, Danylo Ishchenko, Kyrylo Osypenko (all Zorya Luhansk), Kyrylo Digtyar, Danylo Kaidalov, Hennadiy Synchuk (all Metalist Kharkiv).

Forwards: Danylo Khan (Dnipro-1 Dnipro), Vladyslav Kalyn, Kyrylo Pashko, Vitaliy Lobko, Matviy Ponomarenko (all Zorya Luhansk), Maksym Koval (Rukh Lviv).

Euro 2023 (U-17). Qualifying round. Group 2

24.10.2022

Azerbaijan - Ukraine - 2: 5

Bosnia and Herzegovina — Liechtenstein — 2:0

27.10.2022

Ukraine — Liechtenstein — 7:0

Bosnia and Herzegovina — Azerbaijan — 1:0

30.10.2022

Ukraine — Bosnia and Herzegovina — 1:1

Liechtenstein — Azerbaijan — 0:8

Standings

The top two teams from each of the 13 groups and the four best third-place finishers (based on the matches against the first and second teams in the group) will join the Netherlands and Spain in the elite qualifying round. The draw for the elite selection round will take place on December 8. 

The Hungarian national team won a direct pass to the final stage of Euro-2023 (U-17) as the host of the tournament.