Serhii Nagornyak: "The Spaniards have five national teams of this age, they have so much choice..."

19.03.2023 14:00

Photo of UAF press service

In the elite round of Euro-2023 selection (U-19) the youth national team of Ukraine (football players not older than 2004) will play against Luxembourg, Denmark and Spain.

Gathering today, the youth national team of Ukraine U-19 immediately set course for Spain. It is there that the elite round of Euro-2023 selection will take place. About how the team will prepare for the tournament, its head coach Serhii Nagornyak told the official website of UAF.

— To Serhii Mykolayovych, what are the plans for the preparation of your national team for the elite round of the European Championship selection?

— On March 19, we will leave Kyiv with an incomplete team, we will pick up other football players on the way, someone will get to the place on his own. On the morning of the 20th, we will fly to Spain from Budapest. On the 21st, there will be a pre-game training, and the next day, the start of the elite round. There is no time at all to prepare for the tournament, so we will start again from the situation we are in. However, the most annoying thing for me is the injuries of some performers.

- Who exactly will not be able to help?

— First of all, it is Yehor Yarmolyuk. And also Yevhen Pastukh and Oleg Fedor.

— There is a new name on the list, Nikita Aleksandrov...

— We have a problem with attackers. In fact, there is only Igor Horbach. Daniel Kivinda has just started training after a serious injury, so it is not worth talking about him as a potential candidate for the national team. No matter how I searched, there were no suitable candidates even among the younger age group. I was advised to look at Nikita Aleksandrov, whom I remembered from Dynamo. With the beginning of the war, he went to Spain and now plays for Rivas Madrid. Let's see what this performer is.

— Have you met the future rivals in the group?

— Luxembourg made it to the elite round, and that says a lot, Denmark has always been an unyielding opponent, and Spain needs no introduction. Comparing its squad in Euro qualification and now in friendly matches, we can say that the Spaniards have five national teams of this age, so their head coach has such a wide choice.

— However, the national team of Ukraine has maximum tasks?

- Definitely. Nothing else is given. Yes, the circumstances are against us, but I believe in my team. I am most worried about the first game, against Luxembourg, because it is not known how our players will cope with such a long journey.

We would like to add that in the elite round, 28 participants will fight for tickets to the final stage, the matches of which will be held in the period from July 3 to 16 of this year in Malta. The winners of the seven groups will go there.

This stage of selection in March will feature the 27 teams that passed the first stage and the Portuguese, who received a direct pass to the elite round as the leaders of the corresponding age rating.

The composition of U-19 youth team of Ukraine

Goalkeepers: Yurii-Volodymyr Gereta ("Rukh" Lviv), Denis Barchenko ("Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Defenders: Andriy Buleza ("Minai"), Oleksandr Rosputko ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Artem Benedyuk ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Vitaly Kholod, Bohdan Slyubik, Andriy Kitela (all "Rukh" Lviv), Danylo Udod ("Al-Ain ", UAE).

Midfielders: Ivan Losenko, Oleg Pushkarev, Oleksandr Yushchenko, Anton Glushchenko (all Shakhtar Donetsk), Anton Tsarenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Kyrylo Sigheev (Alexandria), Dmytro Chernysh (Vorskla Poltava), Ivan Varfolomeev ( Slovan, Czech Republic), Volodymyr Harabara (Nuremberg, Germany).

attackki: Igor Horbach ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Nikita Alexandrov ("Rivas Madrid", Spain).

Calendar of the elite round of selection of Euro-2023 (U-19) in group 3

22.03.2023

Denmark - Spain (18.00)

Ukraine — Luxembourg (21.00)

25.03.2023

Ukraine — Denmark (17.00)

Spain — Luxembourg (19.00)

28.03.2023

Spain - Ukraine (19.00)

Luxembourg — Denmark (19.00)

The kick-off is Kyiv time.

Euro 2023 (U-19). Elite round

Group 1: France, Romania, Norway, Northern Ireland.

Group 2: Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Italy.

Group 3: Ukraine, Spain, Denmark, Luxembourg.

Group 4: Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden.

Group 5: Ireland, Greece, Estonia, Slovakia.

Group 6: Serbia, Poland, Israel, Latvia.

Group 7: England, Turkey, Iceland, Hungary.

We will remind, in the qualifying round of Euro-2023 (U-19) the youth national team of Ukraine under the leadership of Serhiy Nagornyak completed the performance with the maximum result in the first place in the group.