Too many questions and almost never clear answers
The epic with the appointment of the head coach of the Ukrainian national team has dragged on for a long time. Moreover, so much so that even the first and very important match of the Euro 2022 qualifier from the tournament point of view, the blue-yellows will play without a nominal mentor. Moreover, it is possible that the national team will play the next matches without an officially appointed head coach. Of course, one can only be happy for Ruslan Rotan – it is likely that he will become the first specialist in the world who will simultaneously manage three different teams, including one club team. But is this really a reason to rejoice?
On the other hand, if you look at the situation with the appointment of the head coach of the national team of the country under the presidency of the UAF, Andrei Pavelko, it seems that there is nothing surprising in this. Moreover, one gets the impression that the choice of the helmsman of the country’s main team for the head of the UAF is primarily “about PR, not about the result.” In any case, for the eight years of being at the helm of the Ukrainian Football Association, Pavelko sacrifices the results of the national team and a major tournament for the sake of a beautiful, in his opinion, history for the third time.
This happened for the first time in 2016, when Andrey Shevchenko was appointed to the coaching staff of Mikhail Fomenko, who first brought the blue-and-yellows to the European Championship through a qualifying tournament, instead of Alexander Zavarov. For what it was done, everyone understood. As everyone probably understood, with what mood and motivation both Fomenko and the team went to France for the tournament. Now it’s hard to say how Ukraine would have performed with the coaching staff familiar to qualifying, but the fact remains: the blue-and-yellows became the worst team of the tournament.
Of course, one can only make assumptions, but it seems that the subsequent invitation of the best player in the history of Ukrainian football, even if he did not have any coaching experience (let’s leave aside two months of stay at Fomenko’s headquarters), was seen as a beautiful PR move that overshadowed all the shortcomings of such a decision. In principle, the result in the first cycle confirmed this, although it must be admitted that the blue-yellows ended up in a difficult group, being in the same company with Croatia, almost peak Iceland and always uncomfortable Turkey.
For the second time, the prospect of a big tournament was sacrificed during the qualification for the 2022 World Cup, when Shevchenko and his team, which showed the best result in the history of our football at the European Championships, were not renewed. The appointment of Petrakov for the remaining matches, and, moreover, without a guarantee of maintaining his post even if the task was completed, also looked like another PR step: to accept the national team on such conditions, which, judging by all the statements, were offered to Petrakov, hardly anyone – agreed. And so, a specialist was called in to save the Ukrainian national team, who won the world championship with the youth team and enjoyed, I hope, enjoys the sympathy of the media, the respect of colleagues and the love of fans.
It should be noted that already then it was said that the team was to be led by Sergei Rebrov, and only due to the fact that the UAF could not agree with the specialist’s club Al-Ain, the team was headed by Petrakov.
And finally, the third case, which was mentioned at the beginning. According to insider reports, the national team will be lucky for the match with England by Ruslan Rotan, who heads the youth team of the country and FC Alexandria. It is not clear how the interests of the last two teams will be taken into account in this case. As it is now unclear why it was necessary for the “youth team” to organize top sparring in March – with Denmark and Italy, if there is a high probability that Rotan will miss both fights (and with Denmark for sure)? Well, let’s welcome the decision of Alexandria, which, with the new head coach, will play three matches before the pause for the matches of the national teams, after which this very pause could be used to work out/improve some necessarily emerging moments.
To the reports of insiders that about the invitation of Rotan as an “acting” Sergei Rebrov asked the head coach of the national team, as in the case with the appointment of Petrakov, we will be back. Let’s dwell on the main question: why did the UAF seize the idea of inviting Rebrov so much?
Yes, in terms of results, Rebrov is the most successful Ukrainian coach right now. Looking back at his work at Dynamo, perhaps the most systematic Ukrainian coach at the moment: inviting Spanish specialists to teams of different ages, introducing uniform principles for building a game, changing the selection approach, etc. Assessing the actions of Rebrov after the start of the war with Russia in 2014 and the large-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation in 2022, we can safely say that Sergei Stanislavovich is a great patriot of Ukraine and one of the biggest donors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from among the Ukrainian coaches. In other words, the perfect candidate.
But behind all this there is no answer to two important questions: what results does the UAF expect from Rebrov and what powers will the specialist eventually have if he nevertheless leads the national team? According to Pavelko at a meeting with journalists, the specialist will be called upon to almost reform the entire football teams. Including by inviting foreign mentors to the youth and youth teams of the country. Hence, it seems – and the incredible, again according to insiders, Rebrov’s almost eight-year contract.
But if Rebrov succeeded in introducing the Spanish vector in Dynamo, how will it look in the national teams? Will Sergei Stanislavovich and hypothetical foreign specialists have the opportunity to do all this at the level of youth and youth teams, where coaches see players for a maximum of a couple of weeks in three months? And doesn’t the UAF think that large-scale reforms, such as, for example, in Denmark and Germany, should be started from the bottom and locally, organizing regional centers, training coaches with high quality, increasing the prestige and salary of children’s mentors (on a good note, this is a topic for individual thoughts)? Is this exactly the competence and ability of the head coach of the national team? And did this include the notorious Marshall Plan for Ukrainian football, which, it seems, has been forgotten or even the UAF does not want to remember.
What will happen to Ruslan Rotan, who led the youth team to the finals of the European Championship, and the coaches of other teams when Rebrov is appointed? If we recall the words of Andrei Pavelko, then Rotanya recommended Shevchenko to the post of youth coach that the teams play according to the same principles and a single model. Now, it turns out that the football of Rotan, and hence Shevchenko, suits Rebrov, since he himself seems to have recommended appointing a specialist “acting” the head coach of the national team until he himself accepts the team. In that case, why couldn’t a compromise be found with Shevchenko and his team?
Well, the most important point: who will be responsible in case of something for the failures of the national teams? While we are talking about national and youth? Ruslan Rotan, who will be torn between three teams? Sergei Rebrov or some other coach that the UAF can appoint in March-April, or maybe in June? And how long will Rotan, Rebrov or any other coach work with the national teams if the UAF or its president suddenly has a new favorite? There are really a lot of questions…
Bogdan Gryschuk
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
