Ruslan Kostyshin: Shaparenko and Sudakov are more comfortable playing closer to Mudryk’s position, some kind of imbalance happens, and the coaching staff needs to find optimal positions for the leaders

National The Ukrainian team played the second match in Group B1 of the League of Nations. In Prague Sergei Rebrov’s team lost to the Czech team with a score of 2:3which significantly worsened their chances of reaching Division A. All the most significant moments of the match Czech Republic – Ukraine We discussed this with the famous former football player of Dnipro and Kryvbas, and now coach – Ruslan Kostyshin.

— After the defeat in the game with the Albanian team, in what psychological state did our players approach the match with the Czech Republic?

— It seems to me that our footballers approached the match with the Czech national team in a fighting mood. Yes, after the defeat by Albania, our guys were criticized a lot. Of course, our guys were nervous and everyone wanted to rehabilitate themselves, because our players were simply trashed in the Ukrainian press. And the coaching staff was responsible for ensuring that our national team players approached the match in the best possible condition.

— We saw big changes in the starting lineup of the Ukrainian national team, if we compare the games with Albania and the Czech Republic, six new players. Is this a normal reaction of Serhiy Rebrov to the failure with Albania?

— The coaching staff had to take into account the physical condition of each of the players – these indicators are always taken into account, and the matches were separated by several days. Stepanenko’s appearance on the field was predictable – the Czech players are quite powerful and athletic, you often need to play against them in the lower block.

— How do you remember the first half?

— Again the first half left a mixed impression. We could have counted on a goal by the fifth minute. Vanat could have made better use of the defender’s mistake and opened the scoring. I think he would have scored a goal in the Ukrainian championship. But here the nerves of the match got in his way, and perhaps he lacked experience.

By the 10th minute, the hosts had settled into their stadium and taken the initiative into their own hands. Here I want to step away from football itself and say words of gratitude to our fans, who were the real masters of the stands in Prague. They were visible and audible, but the Czech fans were in the minority.

Continuing with the football theme, the hosts gradually began to push our defensive players into the penalty area and we began to make mistakes again. In the 21st minute, Shaparenko probably did not want to kick the ball out to the corner, being close to Trubin’s goal. It all ended with the ball being taken away and the goal conceded. Soon, Zinchenko also made a gross mistake in his own penalty area – such mistakes are usually not forgiven in Europe.

Our return goal was beautiful. Probably, in this attack our footballers made 12 accurate passes in a row and it all ended with a great cross into the penalty area from Shaparenko to Vanat. Vladislav scored for the first time for the national team. By the way, we noticed that Shaparenko and Sudakov are more comfortable playing in the left inside zone, closer to Mudryk’s position. There is some kind of imbalance there and the coaching staff needs to find optimal positions for our midfield leaders. And this is also an important factor that will help the Ukrainian team play better.

— However, we were unable to go into the break with the score tied…

— Yes. With the score 1:1, we rolled back again, although we will not underestimate the merit of the Czech footballers. The aggression of the Czech players – and again we made a mistake at our goal. Stepanenko unsuccessfully kicked into the center of the penalty area and the home player who ran up powerfully shot past Trubin.

Here I would like to quote the words of the head coach of the Czech national team Ivan Hasek: “We may have thought that we would play in a well-tailored suit, but we had to put on work overalls, dig into the ground and fight, compensating for the problems with the game.” These words say a lot, because three days ago in Tbilisi, the Czech national team was routed.

— Why didn’t Sergey Rebrov make a substitution until the 69th minute of the match? We were losing…

– It is difficult to answer this question, Rebrov decides everything here. I will note that Andriy Yarmolenko’s replacement was necessary – he could not keep up with the intensity of this game.

— Do you think that the penalty against our team was awarded, right, by the Scottish referee?

– I think that’s true. Matvienko didn’t play with his head, the ball hit his hand. Now if the ball had ricocheted from his head into his hand, that would have been a different matter.

— After the match, I happened to read an opinion that by leaving Sudakov and Tsygankov on the bench, our coaching staff knocked the gold dust off them. What do you say about this?

— I don’t think that Sergey Rebrov trained Sudakov and Tsygankov in this way. In our game with Albania, Zinchenko was on the bench. Let’s put it this way: we have healthy competition in midfield. Someone will still remain on the bench. There is also competition in attack – Yaremchuk, Vanat and Dovbyk are trying to prove themselves in training. Although Dovbyk himself is having a hard time now – adapting to Italian football is difficult for him.

But I would like to support all our football players – they are the best in Ukraine now. Criticism, and indiscriminately at that, is the easiest thing. And as for Serhiy Rebrov, it seems to me that he prefers working as a club coach. Where you have to work every day. And in the Ukrainian national team, everyone gets together once a month or even once every two months. What can you train there? One recovery training session, a pre-match game – and off to the fight.

— If we look at the tournament table of Group B1, we will see an unsightly picture – the Ukrainian team is in last place with zero points. In October, we have nominally home matches in Poland with Georgia and the Czech Republic. Do we still have a chance to take first place in the group?

– I still have faith in this. If we beat the Georgian and Czech teams, we will wedge ourselves into the fight for first place. Everyone understands that we cannot lose any more points.

I will give an example of the game of the Georgian national team, which won two victories in our group. I watched the review of the match in Tirana – Albania – Georgia. In a rather difficult match, the Georgians believed in their strength and really wanted to win, and in the end, they succeeded. Our guys are still lacking this. As for the situation in general, we have a main goal – to get to the 2026 World Cup. The qualifying games will begin in the spring and then everything will be clear whether our coaching staff can cope with this task.