Yavorsky: In the match with Wales, Ukraine had to play at different speeds from the first minute

Blue-and-yellows stopped one step away from getting into the World Cup

The final match of the playoff round of the World Cup brought the victory of the Wales team over the Ukrainian team. Famous Ukrainian coach Igor Yavorsky in a commentary by Sport Arena, he appreciated the game of the blue-yellows in the decisive qualifying match, and also told how, in his opinion, the Ukrainians could succeed.

– Igor Petrovich, the Ukrainian team, as well as the Wales team, played only once in the final part of the World Cup. What were you thinking before the meeting?

– Before the start of the game, I thought that the coaching staff of our team would rotate. Time shows that double games are difficult for us, we are talking about the second legs. Somewhere our players lacked lightness. The charge for the fight was maximum, but the hosts forced our guys to play at a pace that was convenient for the Wales team. Somewhere we danced to their tune. It seems that they owned the ball for a long time, but there were few sharp passes, vertical passes. It was necessary for our team to play at different speeds from the first minute.

– You talked about the rotation in the line-up, but it is known that the winning line-up does not change.

– Well, we can’t play the whole cycle with one squad. We have young talented performers: Dovbik, Shaparenko, Mudrik. They could well replace someone at the start. Few threats came from Tsygankov in Cardiff. Accurate passes he alternated with frankly bad. In the first half, our team was completely superior to the opponent. But once again I emphasize that it is not enough to control the ball in the middle of the field, you need to sharpen the game. And the hosts did not really threaten the gates of Bushchan. They had a plan to play for a tall striker, but Zabarny and Matvienko coped with it.

– Judging by the statistics, we completely outplayed the enemy, inflicting 24 shots on the hosts’ goal, against 10 from the opponent. Why didn’t it translate into goals?

– I already answered earlier – we did not play at the highest speeds. Yes, we had chances to score: the same Dovbik was obliged to score, Yaremchuk did not score from a lethal position. And the opponent accepted the challenge and tried to play in a way that was beneficial to him, especially after a goal was scored.

– In the third minute, Alexander Zinchenko scored a goal, but the Spanish referee Mateo Laos canceled it. Why?

– Probably, Sasha struck without a whistle. This is the only explanation. In general, I have questions for an experienced judge. How did he not appoint a penalty in the 39th minute, when Yarmolenko was brought down? There is a clean penalty. Okay, chief judge, but there’s VAR. Laos had to watch the video and make sure of everything. There were different episodes in the match, there was also a tough game. In one of the episodes, James elbowed our player – it must be a yellow card, and the second for the Welshman. And this is removal. But no. In a similar situation, Mikolenko plays – Vitaly immediately gets a yellow card.

And yet, I note that all our players tried, everyone wanted to win and get to the World Cup. But a funny own goal… I don’t think that Yarmolenko took the right position in our penalty area, at the moment when there was a serve from Bale. Either our central defenders or the defensive midfielder Stepanenko should stand there. They have more defensive skills at set pieces. I feel very sorry for Andrei Yarmolenko. Chance, and even in such an important match.

– Do you think that Yarmolenko did not fall apart after this moment?

– Not. And I want to say again that the physical capabilities of our experienced guys are not unlimited. Yarmolenko has done a tremendous job, he is the leader of our team. Of course, Andrei wanted to improve, but somewhere minor mistakes crossed everything out.

Yavorsky: In the match with Wales, Ukraine had to play at different speeds from the first minute
Photo – Getty Images

– How did it happen that the players of the Ukrainian national team did not break through the goalkeeper of the Wales national team Hennessy?

— Let’s remember a great moment of Roman Yaremchuk in the debut of the meeting, when he didn’t convert a one-on-one with the keeper. In this episode, Roma handled the ball poorly and let it go a little to the side. Yaremchuk was already hitting from not the best position – Hennessy did it. Keeper of the hosts caught the courage and recaptured everything. His initiative was supported by partners. They, after taking the lead, sat on the defensive. 7-8 people were almost always near their own penalty area. Let’s be objective, the Wales players had a couple of good moments to take our goal. And we were convinced once again that statistics are not the main thing in football.

– Before the match, all our journalists and experts were talking about the main star of the hosts – Gareth Bale. Did our guys get it right?

– I guess, yes. In the second half Georgiy Bushchan fantastically hit the ball, launched by Bale 8 meters away. And the rest – he did not take us, as they say in football.

– Alexander Petrakov made his first substitutions only in the 70th minute of the meeting. Isn’t it too late?

– It was necessary to refresh the game, to risk the coaching staff. Already in the break it was necessary to change something. But we do not know who is in what physical condition, who is ready. Many of our guys, for obvious reasons, do not play in official matches. And test matches, with high intensity, were few. I am sure that all our citizens were waiting for victory. The military, women, children – everyone wanted the Ukrainian team to make it to the World Cup. I know that our players wanted to win – this is 1000%. And yet the war sits in each of us. I note that all our players are great. And we have promising young people who can make themselves known already in the League of Nations.

– All citizens of Ukraine want to achieve the main victory – in the war against the occupier.

– Of course. Football is far from in the first place. Now everything needs to be done to defeat the rashists. They kill civilians, women, children, destroy entire cities. Everything must be done for the victory of our Ukraine!

Source: Sportarena

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