Yezersky: We know that in European countries there are many of our talented players who have left

The head coach of the Ukrainian youth team U-19 Volodymyr Yezersky assessed the performance of his team in the elite round of the Euro 2022 qualification, where the blue-yellows lost a ticket to the final to Serbian peers only because of more yellow cards, and spoke about his vision of the prospects for Ukrainian football .

— Vladimir Ivanovich, your U-19 team, the youth team of Rotan and the national team of Ukraine Petrakov gave many victories. Do you think that at such a difficult moment for Ukraine, do these victories give faith and hope to people?

– The Ukrainian people are going through difficult times, everyone knows very well that there is a war going on. Football moved to the second or third-fourth places. I know that many guys who defend the country are interested in football. These are tough times for coaches. In order to prepare the players qualitatively, it is necessary to have a full-fledged championship, to have game practice. Of course, it is not easy for teams to prepare now.

I got a very great experience. If we talk about the youth team and the national team, they had players on the basis of Dynamo and Shakhtar, they had playing practice through friendly matches.
And our 18-19 year old guys were involved, but basically it was individual work, except for the Dynamo and Shakhtar teams, plus the guys from Rukh. It was difficult to select, many players were unprepared, many were injured, but I can say for sure that all the players who played did their best to please the Ukrainian fans.

– How did you prepare for the play-off tournament of the U-19 European Championship?

– The last time we met in early October, when we won the qualification. Compared to the Netherlands, Serbia and Norway, they met four times after qualifying, plus they all had championships, there was a game tone. We were afraid that we were functionally physically unprepared, there was little time for preparation – in such difficult conditions, we were preparing for the playoffs.

I want to pay tribute to all the guys, coaches and administrators, all the staff – we had 5-6 days to prepare. Thanks to the UAF for resolving all technical and material issues. Thanks to Grigory Kozlovsky, who opened the door for all teams. He said that if the guys have nowhere to train, let them come to the Rukh base 2-3 weeks in advance and get full training with the Rukh team. We arrived in a day and a half, although in a small group, we were able to prepare for the games. I want to thank Evgeny Levchenko for talking and agreeing that we could train for 5-6 days on the basis of the Netherlands national team. I am grateful to our fans who supported us in Holland during the games.

– But still, how did you motivate the guys, what did they say? Not having so much practice time and achieving such a relatively successful result is good. It’s just that now we all know that yellow cards are important.

– I’ll tell you this, if we got to the Euro – we already even knew the group: Austria, Israel, England. And today we have analyzed that our group – which was in the playoffs – is stronger than the one in which we could play at the Euro. Thank you guys for your professionalism and attitude. When UEFA gave the go-ahead that we should prepare for the games, selection began, a group was made, an individual preparation plan was drawn up. Who worked in the clubs – they were preparing with the teams. Thanks to the guys that they really professionally approached the preparation. Many players I counted on could not help the national team, mainly due to injuries. A large group of people fell out. Many defended the colors of the youth team for various reasons. Ocheretko and Kivinda were injured, there were procedures and surgeries. But the guys did not need to be motivated, they all understood that they were playing for our colors, for Ukraine, they probably took an example from our military from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I am grateful to them that they played very well against such opponents. I think that we represented Ukraine with honor and dignity.

– How do you see the future of Ukrainian football?

— First, we need to understand this now and make a strategic decision on how we will develop further. I am grateful to all the club owners who have not abandoned the teams and want to finance their clubs. Low bow to such presidents. I understand that it will be very difficult to play in European competitions without foreigners in autumn.

In a short period of time it is very difficult to prepare a team well in such conditions in order to adequately play in Europe. Lots of technical issues with check out. Constantly migrate back and forth to play these matches. We heard this message from Zelensky that the championship should be in Ukraine. It is necessary to clearly work out the regulations so that there is safety, reliability for the players, so that the clubs are full-fledged and legionnaires can return. Here you need to think about how to do it right in the interests of Ukrainian football in order to maintain this level. It is clear that many players have already left. It is necessary to take a correct collegial approach to this issue so that the presidents of the clubs, the leadership of the UAF, taking into account the opinions of the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, taking into account the interests of the Ukrainian national team, find the right way to hold this championship. I believe that the championship should be held like the First and Second Leagues, but you need to be very careful about this.

We understand that today the level of the championship will drop, because many teams will cease to exist. It will be an open way for young players, the same 18-19 year old guys, so that they gain experience. We must do everything possible to keep our championship at a certain level.

– The popular opinion is that in the future Ukrainian football will develop due to the fact that now many of our children have left for different European teams, and in the future, when they grow up, they can become our hope and the basis of the national team.

– If you look from one side, then this is a plus for the Ukrainian team. Many players go to good European clubs. But we should not forget that there is a rating of Ukraine in UEFA, and it must be preserved so that as many Ukrainian teams as possible play in European competitions. It is this experience of international matches, where these young players will acquire it, so that later they can adequately and honorably defend the colors of the national team.

– Will the selection of your national team look at all the young Ukrainians playing in Europe?

– The most important thing is that there are opportunities for viewing, that there are finances to conduct training camps. There were many plans before the war. Now it is very difficult to hold training camps in Ukraine if a large group of players are abroad, and vice versa – to hold training camps abroad, this requires funds and a lot of technical and organizational nuances. I wish there were such opportunities. Then there will be an opportunity to have a good and high-quality look at that galaxy of players who ended up abroad in order to understand who corresponds to the level of the national team. We’ll see, but now we need to think about how to defeat the enemy.

– I was in Mönchengladbach when Ukraine played against Borussia. There he met Artur Golubitsky, he has been playing football all his life in Germany, playing for Bochum U-19. He has a Ukrainian passport and dreams of playing for Ukraine. What is the probability that he gets a chance?

– There are many components. For the last 2 and a half years there have been problems with covid, you know that you would not have passed the border without tests. And now there is a war. Difficult period. There are many problems in organizational nuances. It is necessary to get together, to look through these guys. But as soon as such an opportunity arises – believe me … We understand that there is a cohort of players, we lead them if possible. But there is another side. There are players whom we lead, we invite to the national team, and when they come of age, when they can already sign professional contracts, those teams in the countries in which they live become more active. And they immediately make offers. At this age and during this period, parents, as a rule, choose to perform at their place of residence. There are many such questions for this. Players and parents need to immediately decide which country they want to protect.

We know that in Germany, Spain, Italy and other European countries there are many of our talented players with Ukrainian roots who left. We don’t mind if they play for us. But two factors: technically, how do you keep track of everyone to see who matches? It needs to be done fees. Unfortunately, there is currently no extra opportunity to conduct such gatherings. And another question is when in the future these players, already at the age of 16-17, come with pleasure, and then at 18 – they are already in sight, they correspond to the level of the national team not only of ours, but also of the country where they play. And they get offers from there. There are examples, I won’t name names, when the decision was made by the parents. And we couldn’t do anything about it.

Are you suggesting that these players be patient and they will get their chance? Like, it will be very long.

– Again, there will be chances and they are. The main thing is that they are determined, and we have the opportunity to conduct training camps, involve them in training, in tournaments. They need to prove themselves and match the level of the national team, and besides that, they need to endure, because we also have academies, there is a mass character. And that means quality. We have enough of our own schools, before the war many fields were made, new academies appeared. We have taken this important step in children’s and youth football. So it’s worth the wait.

– What would you like to convey to all Ukrainian fans?

– In such a difficult time, we are proud of our Armed Forces, protecting our country. I want to wish the fans that they warmly support our soldiers, and all the football teams and the national team of Ukraine at this time. To victory!