Coach disappointed with players’ performance after conceding goals
Head coach Olympic team of Ukraine Ruslan Rotan spoke about the team’s defeat in the match with Iraq (1:2) in the first round of Group B Olympics 2024.
“Everyone saw everything. What kind of pattern can we talk about when the opponent makes two or three strikes and we lose? I think that there were more global mistakes, childish ones, that turned this game upside down. We must accept this result. We lost because of mistakes.”
“Penalties are our problem. We must not give up. We emphasized that the problem is not in the mistakes, but in how we act after them. This fact disappointed me, because we did not believe in ourselves.”
“I think we were a head or even two stronger than our opponents, but our mistakes were fatal for us. We started to worry, rush, get nervous. This was unnecessary. There was time to correct them. I didn’t like that.”
“We have two games against even stronger teams. The next match is the most important one. We need to recover now. I think we should approach Morocco in better physical and mental shape. There are such matches and, perhaps, you can’t criticize anyone.”
The Ukrainian team took the lead after a historic goal for the blue-and-yellows by Valentin Rubchinskiy. However, a few minutes later the Iraqis got even, converting a penalty. And then the Asian team scored a second goal and snatched victory.
In the second round, Ukraine will face Morocco on July 27. Recall that the African team defeated Argentina in a scandalous match that was played out two hours after the end of regular time.
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.
