Україна National Team III

Agree on Shaparenko. But he is very inconsistent. One has got to hope he does well against England but I suspect he will have less time and space to operate.
The thing about Mykolenko is he may be needed on the pitch because Zonchenko is a defensive liability. But when I try to predict the starting roster with both Zinchenko and Mykolenko on the pitch, I end up with 12 players. Can we field 12 players?
Red card... I am going to be honest, I am an old school defender, I remember defending Edmar on his tackle against Olympiakos where his foot slid up after hitting the ball and impacting greek player's leg. It wasn't as forceful as Danielson's tackle, though. Here, I am looking at an orange card and the result of the impact (a bad injury) pulls it towards a red.

 

Against any old English side I'd like our chances a lot but this new squad is more cultured and has lots of speed. We were embarrassed by Austria's athleticism on short rest and we slowed down significantly around 40th min v. Sweden after 8 days rest, that's what worries me. Only positive is we finally get to take the Sun Escapers out of the cloudy albion and force them to join everyone in Euro2020 after UEFA gifted them a spot in quarterfinals

Its that speed that makes me think Mykolenko will be back in the lineup, he's had like 2 weeks rest, we need his pace & athleticism, and we need Zinchenko technique & poise in midfield. Laughable to think Stepanenko & Sydorchuk tandem would work against England, it would be a more embarrassing stretch than the one against Holland end of 1st half and start of 2nd half

Malinovsky is definitely due for a patented screamer, been visualizing it in my head all week haha. Was close to doing it if Karavayev played a dummy to him after a lovely backheel (was it Besedin?). Would be glorious if it finally happens in Italia where he feels comfortable to shock the world v. England. Sheva's entire assistant coaching staff is Italian besides a Spanish goalkeeper coach (spent time @ Dnipro), would be epic if we produce an Italian style performance and join England flying back to Britain for the semifinal. Breathed in Scottish air and drank braveheart water for a few days, timely before the biggest game Ukraine has played in since World Cup 2006 quarterfinal...against Italy

 

Can't forget Zubkov either...some of his skill on the ball looks amazing in training (Ukraine youtube channel is a must). Sweden game came a bit too early for him, this quarterfinal I imagine he's going to be fit for at least a cameo off the bench. We sorely lack his pace as well as a fully fit Tsygankov, we desperately need both to be at their best even if its a 2nd half cameo. If we can survive the early onslaught of the speed of England for the 1st 30 min and introduce some of these speedy wingers in the 2nd half and potentially extra-time I'll like our chances more & more as the game goes on

 

Yea England let us play after they scored, we actually created the best play of the game, a slick combo work that showed off Sheva's inspirations, Lobanovsky & Sacci-Ancelotti, unfortunately Yaremchuk cut it back instead of playing it across the face of goal. Same thing against Holland, our best passing combinations never finished in goals sadly so will be forgotten about, but there were a couple really clever combos they created. But yea that 2nd half was ridiculous, and honestly every start of the 2nd half from us was atrocious in every game. Bizarre.

 

Looking back, laughable to think Ukraine could win against a powerhouse without Malinovsky even dressing for the game (wtf?!?) and Zubkov playing 10 minutes the entire tournament. We lacked pace over the top besides our #9, we had to play pragmatic and fought hard for every build up in attack, we had no outlets on the wing that could drag the defense into their own zone

Key for me going in was not conceding a goal in the first 15-30 min when England's pace was at its most dangerous. and just like the 2006 World Cup quarterfinal v. Italy we conceded immediately (7th min v. Italy and 4th min v. England). Both goals easily avoidable. Absolute muppets. Our old wooden leg CB Kriyvtsov with a shocker, gifted the 1st goal, gave away a foul for set piece and subbed off injured in the 30th min. That actually gave us a glimmer of hope with us going with a 4-3-3 and England struggling to adjust. That was our chance to equalize before half, we created 2 slick passing combinations for chances, unfortunately Yarmechuk cut his pass back instead of sliding it across the goalie for the tap in for Yarmolenko. Regardless, England just let us play after they scored. Ukraine can play at a high level once every week, when we have to play twice in 4 days or 3 times in 7 days there's a noticeable drop off. Still impressive showing for us with Dnipro & Metalist no longer existing and our league a shadow of its former self. Somehow our footy is still progressing, we had an 18 year old CB start every game and another promising 18 year old on the bench getting valuable experience. Tough start to World Cup qualifiers for us, hopefully this epic summer of passport stamp collecting across Europe gives us confidence & motivation to turn things around this autumn. and hopefully Milan don't get knocked out of Champs League group stage and we can keep Sheva a bit longer

 

I think if they get knocked out in winter coach will be fired and Sheva brought in during Xmas break. But I could be wrong. Hoping that Sheva doesn't get distracted from here until end of qualifying cycle

We looked good v. Swiss @ home, we always look good at home against anyone besides Spain, France & Germany. We used to deal with England & Italy quite well because they have slower team speed, that is now over with. Austria, Denmark & Swiss don't sound impressive by name recognition but all 3 indeed have good team speed and athleticism. Swiss looked slightly more athletic than Spain even. Austria gave Italy all they could handle like you said, they ran us into the ground. I don't understand also why Hungary were able to play with so much enthusiasm & energy for 3 straight games yet we could only do it for like 45 min per game, its not like their players are playing abroad and their league is better. Very bizarre imo, I think Sheva's Italian staff maybe are kinda archaic and going by old Italian methods (when Italy were slower and it wasn't a problem for Ukraine to play with them if we were up for it that day)

We need Buschan, Matviyenko, Zabarnyi & Yaremchuk to go to midtable clubs abroad, they earned it. Sudakov is going to be a potential gem, another Shakhtar academy midfielder. Metalist coming back is great news, hopefully little by little the league continues to improve. I miss UPL heyday from 2008-2014, it was steadily growing and looking back I wish I didn't take it for granted. Spring 2014 all 5 Ukrainian clubs were in the knockout stage (Chornomorets was the 5th), now we're lucky to just have 2, nuff said

 

True, tennis is a good example, and gymnastics too. The Russian girls are an absolute nervous wreck @ Olympics

Happy 4th of July btw, and like I said the other day I plan on coming here every Int'l Break and hype up our footy or bitch about it again. Make Footy Forums Great Again!

 

Interesting that you should say that (FSU mentality). I have noticed that too. The conundrum here is that most of these kids were not even born during Soviet times. That means they are infected with that attitude from coaches, and from elsewhere. Because talent is available.

It is disheartening that the U-20 World Cup winning side only has one starter in the UNT 2 years later (Mykolenko) and only two are sitting on the bench (Popov, Besedin)

 

Good name drops about the u19 squad in 2009, Garmash looked so good, dreamed of him being a lanky box to box beast like you said. Blokhin finally started him v. England in Euro2012 3rd game I thought he was going to make the difference. If only we had Sheva who knows...

Who is Geo of the u20 team you referred to the Georgian kid? Also you maybe left out Bondar on accident. Who was the other monster CB in that back 3? Haven't noticed him name at all in UPL, had a long name, tall giant tree of a CB. Sounds like a lot of these kids will get a lot of run on loan @ Chornomorets this year

and maybe heard the name Mudryk once but in general not familiar yet, supposed to be a big talent?

 

You can tell Neymar is his favorite player with a bit of Konoplyanka inspiration in him. He has a perfect physique for a winger, he glides around. Not only is his vision impressive, the passes are delivered on time. Its a special trait to be able to pause for just the right moment to spring teammates perfectly passed offsides traps. Its admired in Spain especially. Shakhtar academy is becoming special, Zinchenko, Malinovsky and now Sudakov & Mudryk possibly reaching elite quality. Very promising, hopefully he has the hunger & desire to match his ability

and yea I saw that Aliev diss track about some Italian dude in UAF was hilarious, didn't realize he has an entire channel now. Kwame Brown style lmao!

 

Sheva steps down in the middle of World Cup qualifying after a memorable Euro campaign, back to being dysfunctional Ukraine we go. Over a contract dispute is what I understand? Did they lower the managerial staff salary or did Sheva ask for a raise? What a nightmare. Bring back Markevich if Rebrov doesn't come...

 

Yea that's a decent theory. Read something that Sheva wasn't happy with UAF organization @ Euro's, although judging from the official YouTube channel everything seemed decent

Rebrov stepped down from Feren for some reason and went to UAE, supposedly he's gotten a lawyer to see if he can break the new contract. Always figured he'd take over from Sheva once the 2022 cycle ended, so worst case scenario we could do worse than Markevich, although he hasn't coached in 5 years and probably didn't plan to so that's a bit worrisome

Btw I forgot, what was the reason Markevich stepped down leading up to Euro2012? Was he the coach when we smashed Germany in a friendly? Think it was the inaugural re-opening of Olympiyskiy. Such a huge step down with Blokhin, would be the same thing all over again if we get Mykhailychenko instead of Markevych or Rebrov lol fml...

 

So the u-20 World Cup winning coach now becomes Sheva's replacement and tries to lead us to the World Cup in 2022. Sounds like a cool storyline if it happens but him not having any major top level experience will likely be a disaster. He played a 5-4-1 from my understanding, so will be interesting to see if he's versatile enough to alter his approach or if that is now how we will lineup even against teams we should be outplaying

His strengths are that he's a positive person and great motivator. Supposedly he earned the respect & trust of Garmash who nobody could get through to. He also is familiar with a few players through the youth setup (found out Yaremchuk was on the u-20 World Cup squad in 2015). Speaking of he's off to a flying start for Benfica and already a fan favorite, Benfica changed their twitter handle to Benficachuk lmao! Big champs league qualifier for them today v. PSV

Also the young lad Dikan who is a u-20 World Cup champion was subbed in for the last few minutes of Shakhtar's champs league game yesterday and was put on the list for World Cup qualifiers as well. Seem to remember him as the guy who rotated up top with Supryaga?

 

Surprised you sound ok with this. Just found out his assistant is a Chornomorets assistant that sounds like he'll be doing double duty lol?? This definitely doesn't sound promising, about the only good thing is Sheva did play 5 defenders a few big games so we are sorta prepared

Having those #9's is going to be crucial playing a 5-4-1 to 5-2-3 hybrid. Good call on the #9's, after Sheva we had Seleznyov & Zozulya so these young athletic horses look amazing. We need excellent wing play in this system for cut back assists on the counter with those 9's . Konoplya & Kornilienko were excellent in the u-20 World Cup triumph, our counters were lethal. We need a better RB after 2022, Karavaev is very good on his best day, but he can't do that consistently against the elite teams. We need to win in Kazakhstan, luckily we have good momentum after Euro's, and just hope everyone stays healthy

 

Happy Independence day lads! Our lovely lass turned 30 today <3

Sheva received a Yaroslav the Wise medal today for his contributions as coach and putting Ukraine on the world map