Україна National Team III

This explanation came in handy today. Had no idea Ukraine was the Pot 1 team because we won our qualifying group, makes sense now. Shocking we had to play an away game @ a Pot 2 team, what a joke.
Hope you check this before the game tomorrow for some positive vibes or at least after we win some of the lads reminisce and come back. We truly need to celebrate together if Ukraine advance. This is an absolute dream spot for our Zbirni, Sheva seems to be a potentially world class manager in the making who won't be our coach much longer, and with the lads being a perfect age the time is now! Slava Ukrainiiii!!!!

 

What's up yasik hope all is well. Cool to see you checked the forum on matchday haha respect. The tradition lives on. Cheers to us and all the lads throughout the years who made this place a great place to talk, may it revive today with a result

Would be a fantastic achievement, fingers crossed the lads play to their capabilities and no bad luck. Even after the electrifying game v. Holland not much is being said about us. Saw a couple articles written about Sheva today but mostly its unkown we are the 3rd youngest team @ Euro's with an 18 year old CB, a result today would increase the buzz. Viva UKPAIHA!! <3

 

Never ending nightmare lmao!

5 defenders is the name of the game, Ukraine drew @ Lisbon & Paris playing with 5 defenders, we won u-20 World Cup the same way. Not matching up with Holland in Amsterdam with 5 when they themselves played that system or against Austria who play with 5 too and only needing a draw is really naive. Bless Sheva's heart for staying faithful to the beautiful game, but if you do you at least need to rotate the squad once in 3 games. We were heavy legged today and tactically outmaneuvered by a modern back 5 side all playing in Bundesliga. Respect to Austria, good squad. Now we need to hope Belgium & Denmark win today, and Spain to win tmrw or Croatia & Scotland to draw or we are out

 

Russia is out, Denmark & Belgium keep Ukraine's hopes alive

We could progress tmrw if Croatia & Scotland draw, if that fails the final chance is if Spain beats Slovakia and Sweden avoids defeat to Poland

 

Yes, we survived the 1st hurdle finishing ahead of Finland/Russia, now we need to finish ahead of 1 other 3rd place team. Not that we deserve it, but we could potentially end up lucking out and getting Sweden in the sweet 16 if they beat Poland and finish 1st in their group. Other options would be Belgium or winner of France group...

Sounds like Sheva didn't fully understand the process after the game himself. Weird situation for Ukraine having to prepare like they still might be alive, and they did go to bed tonight with their hopes up after the 1st hurdle was cleared. If they somehow still advance its honestly a blessing in disguise. The quadrant Ukraine would've been in would've been Italy, Belgium & France to reach the Final, would've been pointless. If they happen to get placed with Sweden the quarterfinalist would be Czech's or England or France/Germany plus semifinalist Holland or Denmark...

 

Croatia won and deservedly slow, our last hope to advance is still a very decent chance of happening

Ukraine will play either Spain or Sweden if both get the required results tmrw. Spain must beat Slovakia and Sweden needs to draw Poland for us to advance. If Sweden happens to beat Poland we would play Sweden in Glasgow...

 

Joma kits and Russia small dick energy having our jerseys altered literally changed Ukrainian fortunes. We are the most unlucky miserable footy nation of all those with a somewhat prestigious history (3 Balon d'Or winners, Euro '88 finalist, club level success of Dynamo, Shakhtar & Dnipro). Extremely unlucky to miss out of tournaments in 1998, 2002 and 2014 (plus choked in 2000 & 2010), but in 2 of the 4 tournaments we've been in now with fortunate Rd of 16 draws

Ukraine literally qualified on the final day in the final spot thanks to our viking ancestors Sweden beating Kievan Rus lifetime enemy Poland in Petrograd, Russia, so much karma its unbelievable. Shoutout to Donetsk & Lugansk and Crimea is Ukraine too! <3

 

As much as I'm happy Ukraine won I feel really bad for Lewandowski, that triple miss in the 1st half was insane. It reminded me of Shevchenko in the 2005 Champs League Final, he had a brilliant header saved in the 119th min and the goalie at his mercy, for some reason he wanted to smash it in and goalie managed to punch it straight up over the bar. It would've been Sheva's 2nd winning goal in 3 years in Champions League Final, his legacy would be on a totally different level right now had what should've happened 99% of the time happened. Sheva was the reigning Balon d'Or too, and Lewa should be now if he wasn't robbed of the honor. Lewa eases Sheva's pain slightly, crazy how the futbol gods work...

Also really hope this success brings a few of the old band members together. We really shouldn't have fallen out of touch this bad. I'm going to try to make a habit of posting here during Int'l breaks again. Hopefully some of the lads remember this page and decide to check and pop in for at least a few pleasantries. The Russian invasion really devastated us, but Ukraine has slowly adjusted and moved forward, would be cool if somehow this place gets revived again

 

Not sure if you use fotmob app for soccer scores but its my go to now, they have real time player ratings that I love to check after watching games, they break down players stats like duels won/loss, dribbles, tackles, literally everything. Anyway they do a March Madness type bracket challenge there (began with WC 2018), I actually had Ukraine v. Denmark in the quarterfinal with Ukraine advancing haha

Spain v. Croatia too, that entire side of the bracket is brutal, it was the same way in 2016 too I remember. Honestly although its cool to see more countries get a chance, I do kinda miss the hectic drama of a 16 team tournament. There were a couple great group stage games but in general its kinda just like a warmup phase. Imagine if they move the World Cup to 48 teams soon like they are talking about...

 

Rbubela what's up xlopits! Great to see you again, hope all is well

Mykolenko has been having a rough go of it since that calamitous error v. Finland in WC2022 qualifiers, up until that point he was a darling. Was immense in the opening Euro qualifer in Lisbon where we got a big result to kick start this campaign, he was eligible for u-20 World Cup but just too good for that level. The writing was on the wall when Sheva called him out in training, he was joking around and Sheva told him 'mne ni do shutki malish,' Sheva saw his immaturity and made to pay for it. He risked faking injury v. Holland in 1st half almost conceded a goal from it, then dove again on their 2nd goal, and I think he even did it v. Macedonia as well. His stubbornness is getting annoying as hell but he deserves credit for not being scared lol...with that said there's no doubt he has the physical attributes and enough quality where he should be playing for a club in a top 5 league
Zabarniy is an absolute revelation, the way he dribbled out of the back a few times v. Holland in his 1st major was unreal. He is mentally way ahead of his age, really mature kid on and off the pitch. Karavaev was useful the first 2 games, he was the epitome of the Austria game however. His legs looked so heavy that game, and his giveaways were just laughable & criminal at the same time
Zinchenko has the 2nd most tackles in Euro2020 with 12 so far. Will take a lot for me to criticize Zina & Malina after suffering through some of the most pathetic embarrassing central mids one can expect to have represent your team. Ruslan Rotan was the only quality guy in 15 years following the team closely. Sidorchuk was shockingly bad v. Austria, especially given he was the only one afforded rest v. Macedonia, Stepanenko will surely play this next game which is reassuring. Also btw Georgiy Sudakov is an immense talent, he was brilliant in the friendly with N. Ireland and the way Sheva hugged him after the game you can tell he expects great things from him. Shakhtar producing some center mid gems now with Zina, Malina and now Sudakov
Surprised to see you bash Zubkov, not having him has been the catalyst for our struggles this tourney. Rewatch the first 10 min of the Holland game, we were a totally different team with his power & pace. He's a bit unrefined technically but unafraid to dribble at players. He has a good chance of being available for Sweden which will no doubt be a boost to us

 

I wasn't watching many games when Yaremchuk was still evergreen, I remember being so impressed with his off the ball movement and confident touches dribbling extending possession for support to arrive v. Portugal in Kyiv that secured us Euro spot. Since then he's developed his physique even more, he's an athletic specimen man. He needs to come good v. Sweden and his stock will sore even more

Btw you were so right about Besedin haha he kinda has a goofy gait, more basketball player than soccer player its funny to watch. That back heel was absolutely criminal, he set them up perfectly for one of those classic Soviet choke jobs late, unreal...Artem Dovbyk is very raw but the few highlights I saw him playing for faux-Dnepr he looks like a potential beast striker. He had a stint @ Midtydjydjyland that didn't work because of injuries, but he rediscovered his game in Dnepr, still growing...

and I think Sheva will stay through World Cup qualifiers, Milan keeping their coach for now, but Sheva is likely their next coach. I hope he stays and does both like his mentor Lobanovsky, we likely won't find a coach like Sheva again. Maybe even Rebrov after his weird stint in the middle east, he did a fantastic job in Hungary..

 

Ukraine v. Sweden again, Sheva potentially coaching us to another major quarterfinal like a certain other Balon d'Or winning Ukrainian before him, who also coached Ukraine to its 1st Euro win in 2012 v. Sweden (realistically Lobanovsky did that in Euro '88), while Sheva grabbed a famous double...was it written??

Sweden are our ancestral forefathers too, epic storylines in this one...expecting us to play to our potential today, fresh legs and a new lease on life. Tough hard fought win today, 2-1 and we move on to face Germany in the quarterfinals on Sat (fingers crossed)

 

Sheva surprised me greatly by preparing a much different starting roster than I expected. Using Zinchenko on the same position as in UPL should not have been surprising. I was more surprised by playing both Stepanenko and Sydorchuk. I thought this was too much of a defensive set-up, which will, most likely, be repeated against England.

 

Sheva pulled a classic New England & Bellichick move. We have only played 5 defender system in away qualifiers against powerhouses (Portugal & France). Don't think we even played 5 in Nations League v. Spain or Germany (maybe @ Germany). No only that he didn't start Malinovsky either, possibly hiding the fact he was injured v. Austria, or did he actually just bench him lol??

Shaparenko was so important in the 1st half, he looked very cultured on the ball. Zabarniyi is an absolute revelation. The kid is 18 years old, and dove to win a foul near his own box late in the game, something only seasoned veteran defenders usually do. Yarmola & Zina on that 1st goal was just outrageous skill, and wow it just had to be the only Dnipro lad on the squad (3rd string striker only playing because of Besedin horrific injury, get better lad) to be the hero

All of this btw stems from brilliant new Nations League idea instead of friendlies. We won Pot B with Czech & Scotland to secure not only Pot A practice with powerhouses Spain & Germany, but also an automatic spot in Euro2020 playoff stage. Having that assurance is the reason we played so loose & confident in qualifiers topping a group with Portugal & Serbia. Dreaming of more now, some serious Circle of Life type coincidences with Ukraine that I don't feel like listing out but that do exist. Viva UKPAIHA!!! <3