The blue-yellows took second place at the end of the group stage
Head coach of the national team Ukraine Sergey Rebrov commented on the victory over Albania (2:1) in the final round of the group stage of Division B1 Nations League 2024/25.
“At this level you can’t win calmly at all. A very difficult away game. It’s even harder to play two days after a tough game and tough field in Georgia. Every game of the Ukrainian national team is very difficult.”
“We had a very tough group, all teams competed at Euro 2024. I thank the players for making it to the playoffs, it was very difficult. The Albanian team, with the support of the fans, showed their strength in the second half. It’s great that we kept this score.”
“We don’t need to be afraid, but rather react. We made some changes. We understood that it was very difficult to play in Tirana with such support from the fans. Albania is a strong team and performed quite confidently at the Euro. We prepared for this team, for this game, today the result was very important.”
“We had a very even group, all high-level teams. Therefore, the fight continued until the last round. I don’t think that all our failures were due to the game. There was an equal fight, even the same first match against Albania. Both we and the opponent had moments. It is very important that today the guys came out in the decisive game with a completely different mood and showed our strength.”
“We had two goals in the Nations League. The first is to try to get into the playoffs for the World Cup, as was the case during the Euro 2024 selection. The second is to look at the players who played in the youth team and competed at the Olympics. I believe that we have coped with both tasks, now we are playing in the playoffs. Those players who made it to the national team added confidence and intensity to the game. If you saw, today Alexey Sych entered the field; he was not preparing to play for the national team; he was called up later. But he came out and played at a very high level.”
“It’s a very difficult training camp, because Dynamo and Shakhtar players play a lot, logistics are difficult, many players had micro-injuries. It was very difficult to choose the lineup. I always understand that we have to play two matches. If in the first match there is a lineup that you can consider the main one, then we think about how to refresh it with other players. As you saw, there wasn’t enough intensity with Georgia. Today, with these players and their motivation, we added intensity.
“Before the game, we didn’t think about who our opponents would be. It was very important to win and show the strength of Ukraine.”
Rebrov’s team scored twice by the 10th minute. First, Alexander Zinchenko brought the blue-yellows ahead, and then Roman Yaremchuk increased the guests’ advantage. After the break, Nedim Bajrami reduced the gap in the score with a penalty, but the Albanians were not enough to do more.
Ukraine finished in second place in Group B1 of the 2024/25 Nations League. Over the course of six rounds, Rebrov’s team scored eight points, recording two wins, two draws and two losses.
The blue-and-yellows made it to the playoffs for the right to advance to Division A. Ukraine can play Scotland, Hungary, Serbia or Belgium. The draw will take place on Friday, November 22. The playoff matches themselves will take place next year – on March 20 and 23.
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.
