The Ukrainian national team is confidently qualifying for Youth Euro 2025
Team coach Ukraine U-21 Unai Melgosa commented on the victory over Azerbaijan (1:0) in qualifying for the 2025 European Youth Championship.
“We felt we had enough chances, 2-3 crossbars. But we didn’t score and started to feel not very comfortable. We managed to earn a penalty in the last minutes.”
“The second half was definitely not our best game. Sometimes such matches happen, but we try to avoid this. Perhaps it turned out that the opponent was positioned very low and was waiting for us, and we accepted it. So I’m happy with the score, but definitely not with the game.”
“At some moments we tried to signal to the players and the team that we wanted to add energy to this match, because things were starting to go against us. It didn’t turn out exactly the way we wanted, we even allowed the opponent to create chances near our goal. I’m not very happy about this, we need to fix it because in another match the situation may turn out differently.”
“The main feeling is that the team did a great job. Yes, we didn’t do very well in the second half. [игры с Азербайджаном], but we need to evaluate the team from the previous match, and only then make a global assessment of this second half. We showed who we are, although some of the players are new to the team and do not have such significant experience in the national team. It was hard, but we didn’t expect to win all the matches. Now we have a situation that needs to be resolved. This is also a kind of challenge for the players.”
“It’s about the DNA of the Ukrainian national team, which we want to have on the team. We may play a different formation, but our intensity will probably be the same. Our players need to get better, think about their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe we can do this sometimes [играть в пять защитников]but the main thing in the game system is the idea that we want to have in the national team.”
Melgosa’s team scored maximum points in the first five qualifying matches, thanks to which they are confidently leading in Group F. England is in second place, three points behind Ukraine.
Melgosy’s team will play their next match again against their peers from Azerbaijan, but this time on a full-time away basis – the meeting will take place on March 26.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
