The first captain of the Ukrainian national team: “Dynamo has already dropped out of the golden race”

Former player of the national team of Ukraine Yury Shelepnytskyi in a conversation with a Sport.ua correspondent, he shared his impressions of the course of events in the championship, named the team that will win gold medals and the loser that will be demoted:

– Considering that the competition is taking place during the war with the Russian aggressor, then the organizers from the UAF and UPL should be given credit for the professional performance of their duties, and the participants for quite meaningful football. I agree, there are complaints about the work of the judicial corps, but this is not critical. In general, the level of the teams has noticeably leveled off.

– How can this be explained?

– It’s a little bit of everything here: the giants – “Dynamo” and “Shakhtar” slowed down somewhere, but also the pursuers – they added.

– What prevented the same Dynamo and “miners” from performing better?

– It seems that they could not boast of two equal teams, so they lacked the strength to perform successfully on several “fronts”. In order to stop the fall, Dynamo even had to resign Oleksandr Shovkovskyi. And for the people of Donetsk, a lot depended on the mood of the Brazilian legionnaires. And they did not always have enough motivation.

– The performance of which teams was a pleasant surprise for you?

– “Polyssia” lived up to expectations: with the appearance of Ruslan Rotan at the helm and the strengthening of the team made this team competitive. But it was expected. But the one who surprised was LNZ. This is the coaching team of Vitaly Ponomaryev, who is not afraid to experiment with the composition, clearly adheres to the sports principle: the strongest play, distinguished himself with tactical preparations. In my opinion, the people of Cherkassy rightfully lead the standings.

But, to be honest, I was somewhat intrigued by the decision of the Cherkasy team to sell their leader, Prosper Ob, to a direct competitor, Shakhtar, in the middle of the season. As a core player, this is a serious loss and given his intensity, it will be difficult to find a replacement for the African. Ultimately, each club chooses its own transfer policy. Perhaps LNZ arranged a bonus offered by the “miners” from the future sale of Prosper.

– And the most disappointing teams are led by Dynamo?

– That’s right. I think that they have already dropped out of the pursuit of “gold”, the same “Shakhtar” pulled away too far. To some extent, the people of Kyiv will be able to rehabilitate themselves if they win the Cup of Ukraine and take one of the prize-winning places.
I expected more from Karpaty, who surprised me with their instability and inability to score “their” points. So they paid.
And the one who failed was “Alexandria”. It seems that the club was not ready for changes on the coach’s bridge, there were differences with the football players. I also do not find logic in the decision of the club management to remove its leader Kyryll Kovalets from the main team for unknown reasons at a difficult moment for the “townsmen”. His absence had a negative impact on the game of “Alexandria”, with which even our giants were reckoned with until recently.

– Finally, try yourself as an oracle: who will be the champion and which teams will be directly relegated?

– This is a rather difficult question, because the transfer campaign and the preparatory period are still ahead. However, I highly rate Shakhtar’s chances, but Poltava will not be lucky to avoid relegation. There will be a very sharp fight for other places on the podium and how not to get into the relegation zone.

Earlier, the player of the star team of “Dynamo” gave a master class in New York.