Oleg Walkman Shustenko: "Sooner or later the national team of Ukraine will get to the e-football world championship"

24.05.2023 15:11

Oleh Walkman Shustenko, manager of the Ukrainian e-football national team in the discipline of FIFA, summed up the results of the 2022/2023 season, in which the blue and yellow for the first time in history made it to the playoffs FIFAe Nations Cup 2023 qualifiers and stopped in step from entering the world championship.

— I positively assess the performance of the team in the current season. Against the background of all previous attempts of the Ukrainian national team with FIFA, this is the best result. In addition, our cyberfootball players not only ended up among the top 16 teams in Europe, but also won prizes as a result of the playoffs.

— What did the Ukrainian national team lack in the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023 selection playoffs in order to get a place in the final part of the competition? Did the team have any difficulties during preparation or was the level of the opponents higher than ours?

— We had the first experience of holding a bootcamp on the eve of playoff matches. As for the conditions for training, everything was at a high level. Perhaps, if it were not for this collection, the national team could have problems with exiting the group to the upper grid. I believe that the Ukrainian E-Football Association should continue to organize such meetings. 

As for the results of the matches with France and Finland in the upper grid, everything ended naturally for the Ukrainian national team. We had a game plan that unfortunately didn't work. These are top teams and we are really weaker than them so far. But we can fix it, and it will take time.

— What is the secret of the success of the current team of Ukraine? The guys are quite well played in a pair, found themselves in more equal conditions due to low ping, or maybe the team was lucky somewhere?

- There is no secret. These two players "matched" very well, and thanks to this there were no psychological problems in the team. Andriy CIG ST92 Shakalov is an individually very strong player who deserves to play in the finals of major competitions. Oleksandr CIG Grishay Grishay fits perfectly into the team's game model. The leadership qualities of the captain plus high-quality communication in the national team brought results.

— The national team took part in three stages of qualification and stopped just one step away from the final part of the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023. How does a professional e-footballer survive such situations?

- It's always a shame. No matter how strong a player you are, whether you are lucky or not. It's always sad to leave one step away from the final quota. The boys dreamed of getting to the decisive part of the World Cup. They were not even interested in the question of the prize fund. But, unfortunately, this never happened. However, sooner or later the national team of Ukraine will get to the e-football world championship.

— How do you assess the progress in the development of cyber football in Ukraine in view of the selection results for the national team of Ukraine in the fall of 2022 and the final results of the team in the 2022/2023 season? Are these a couple of the top e-football players in FIFA today? 

— It is difficult to assess, because many cyberfootball players are not interested in the game now because of the war. In the individual competitions this year, at least two players were selected for the qualifications - Andrii CIG ST92 Shakalov and Yaroslav ECF_BlackStar98x Gurmak. There used to be much more. Therefore, from this point of view, there is regression.

As for the pairs competition, Ukraine showed good results. We are talking, of course, about the national team of Ukraine from FIFA, as well as eClub, where Yaroslav ECF_BlackStar98x Gurmak and Denis ECF_Phoenix Yevtushyk fought for the quota until the last.