“The former midfielder of the national team prevents the “blue and yellow” from misfiring in the match with Iceland”, — write: sport.ua
Add fuel to the fire or wait with perspective for this confrontation in an exclusive interview of the site Sport.ua said the former midfielder of the national team of Ukraine Sergey Kovalev.
– Serhiy, before the game with Iceland, are you optimistic?
– How else (smiles)? I really want the Ukrainian national team to prove its ability after, to put it mildly, an unconvincing game in Paris. Now the willpower and character of every football player should come first. Only in this way will the “blue-yellow” be able to continue the fight for a ticket to the World Cup.
– Will our team be able to rebuild psychologically after the big defeat against France?
– I really hope for that. But here the work of the coaching staff comes first. Everyone should understand that today they may have to play because I can’t. The football players themselves are obliged to understand that no matter who is in the starting line-up, the issue must be resolved here and now, there will be no second chance.
FFF – By the way, how would you characterize the game against France?
– Of course, the emotions after the match were negative. Expectations from the actions of the players of the national team of Ukraine were much higher. Given the tactics chosen by our coaches, it was extremely difficult to count on a positive result in a match with one of the best teams in Europe. This is confirmed by the statistics of shots on goal (1:25). Maybe the coaches tried to make adjustments during the game, but we saw that for 90 minutes our team only did that, which was defending. And individual mistakes in simple situations would be enough for several fights, not to mention unsuccessful attempts to transition from defense to attack.
In a word, the match turned out to be a failure, but that’s why there is a confrontation with Iceland, in which the “blue and yellow” can, or rather, are obliged to rehabilitate in front of their fans.
– Apart from willpower and character, what can we surprise Iceland with?
– Collective actions in the attack. We have a resource for this. And it is very important that the team exerts pressure in the other half of the field, and when the ball is lost, it is necessary to immediately enter the selection. Nothing supernatural, the main thing is that there is a desire to demonstrate it. The opponent will definitely make a mistake. I am sure that on paper we are stronger than the opponent. Only this advantage must be proven on the field if our footballers want to fight for a ticket to the World Cup.
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– Of course, this is a serious loss, but with all due respect to Iceland, this is not France. And this was shown by our face-to-face match in Reykjavik. Therefore, it is not necessary to emphasize the absence of the “Benfica” midfielder.
– As a former player of the middle line of Shakhtar and the national team, who would you prefer in the upcoming match?
– If we talk about the support zone, Kalyuzhny is probably out of competition here. A little higher I see Yarmolyuk and Malinovskyi, and on the flanks Zubkov and, probably, Hutsuliak.
– Do you allow a negative result for us?
– Everything happens in football (smiles). But I don’t want to think about that at all. I do not allow this. Otherwise, it will be a failure. Everyone understood that France is the favorite in our group. But if we also miss Iceland, I don’t know how the team will be able to get rid of this shame.
– You probably have an optimistic forecast for the match?
– And how else (laughs). But the point here is not even that I am Ukrainian and I will cheer for my team. We are stronger. And as I said, the guys have to prove it on the football field. 2:1.
