Volodymyr Yezerskyi: "We held very useful sparring sessions at the Kyiv meeting"

16.09.2023 16:25

Photo of UAF press service

The youth national team of Ukraine U-17 (footballers born in 2007) completed the training camp in the capital, during which they played four control matches.

At NTK named after V. Bannikov's blue-yellow team lost to "Colossus" U-19 — 1:3 and "Shakhtar" U-19 — 1: 2, and also defeated "Dnipro-1" U-17 — 4:0 and "Metalist 1925" U-19 — 1:0. The head coach of the national team, Volodymyr Yezersky, told the official UAF website about the results of the meeting.

— First of all, I am grateful to the UAF for the fact that at such a time it was possible to hold this collection at all, — Yezerskyi said. — We had good conditions for full-time work.

Our national team is preparing for the qualifying round of the European Championship, and we must understand the current realities regarding football players of our age and younger. It is difficult to make a selection, to assess the readiness and level of players, since DUFL competitions are just beginning, and it is happening mainly at the regional level. Therefore, I am glad that during the training process we managed to hold four sparring sessions, they were very useful, because there were also many candidates for our national team in the opponents' squads.

It is gratifying that in these matches it was possible to involve not only Dynamo and Shakhtar players, but also representatives of other teams from different regions. And I can say that at least five or six players from this team can help the Ukrainian national team in the qualifying round of the Euro.

Of course, we really miss such meetings with the boys. For example, the German national team of this age has already played about 40 matches, the Finnish team played a little less. At the same time, we understand the reality and try to get out of this situation. Based on the results of the meetings that have passed, we should correctly decide on the team for the official matches that await our team already in October. 

We will remind that this national team of Ukraine is preparing for the qualification round of Euro-2024 (U-17). In the period from October 15 to 21, the blue-yellow team will meet with the teams of Germany, Finland and Liechtenstein (host of the competition).

Composition of qualifying groups for Euro-2024 (U-17)

Group 1: Denmark, Austria, Georgia, Lithuania.

Group 2: Sweden, Poland, Latvia, Moldova.

Group 3: Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Liechtenstein.

Group 4: Serbia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan.

Group 5: Portugal, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Albania.

Group 6: France, Norway, Romania, Estonia.

Group 7: Turkey, Scotland, Belarus, Kazakhstan.

Group 8: Spain, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Malta.

Group 9: England, Croatia, Kosovo, Faroe Islands.

Group 10: Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Armenia.

Group 11: Italy, Greece, Northern Ireland, San Marino.

Group 12: Belgium, Israel, Wales, Gibraltar.

Group 13: Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Andorra.

The winners of the first two places in the selection groups and the five best third place winners based on the results of the matches with the first and second teams will advance to the elite qualification round.

We will remind that Cyprus, as the host, received a direct pass to the final stage, and the Netherlands national team will start the fight from the elite round of selection.