Україна National Team III

Lmao!! comedy gold, well played

 

Yea I haven't had high hopes for him since the end of the 2020 and beginning of last season. Was clear he lacked something, likely physical stature. Smart move by him to choose representing Georgia, that was decided in the spring time I feel like tho, surprised you mentioned about him

 

So... Petrakov. He had won U21 World Cup and will have several players from that team on the senior roster. We'll see what he can do very soon. Kazakhstan in two days.

 

That's some fvcking bullshit. If we end up not qualifying by those lost 2 points would be absolutely scandalous

He almost didn't call Karavaev up either. Supposedly the players talked him out of that one but agreed with him about handling Malinovsky. I'm sure he'll call him back in Nov. but needed to prove a point he's not more important than the team. Kinda agree with him although we don't have time for these silly games

Zinchenko injured now too, so we are essentially without Shevchenko, Zinchenko & Malinovsky now. Must win game in Finland, crossing fingers that Yaremchuk stays healthy and Yarmolenko, Tsygankov & Shaparenko are in form. Thank goodness Kazaks drew in Bosnia, we still have some hope. Just need to beat these teams, we are slightly better than them all so its not out of the question. All comes down to desire & confidence, not our strongest attributes but something Sheva improved

Speaking of Sheva, its looking more & more like he was ousted because he speaks Russian. Some really shady backwards fvcks in Ukraine these days, the ones who claim to be so hardcore Ukrainian technically don't even have pure Ukrainian & Russian blood from Kyiv, for centuries they are true Ukrainian/Russians enemies from Poland. Makes me absolutely sick that these nationalist loons are running the show. Real Ukrainians speak Russian, not realizing Russian culture thrived in Kyiv, Ukraine is just absolute ignorance and disrespect of your own history

 

Our coach is beefing with the media, major animosity and such petty silly distractions at a time where our World Cup hopes hanging in the balance. He talks way too candidly and very opinionated, even spilling beans of his convo with Zinchenko basically blaming him for being injured (not asking to be subbed out of Champs League game when felt something wrong), but I did like him basically saying we are better than Finland and need to win the game. That's the proper mentality to approach this game imo

Really hope we get the job done this week, we need at least 4 pts but hopefully all 6 and can find a way to finish 2nd in the group. Would hate to lose the good memories of the guy leading Ukraine to glory being reigning u-20 FIFA World Cup Champions, but the direction he's going its all or nothing now...

 

Lol @ making Blokhin look like Belichick, 200%

Just read Yaremchuk say that most of the players somehow know him through the youth ranks and respect his authority. He said they fear him when he gets angry which makes me feel better now. I was worried they'd tune him out like millionaire primodanas, since you can't rule over the pros like a military commander as you do the youth. Sounds like Petrakov can tho haha

Immense win @ Finland, great 1st half and very sloppy 2nd half, fortunate not to blow another 2 pts but they got the job done. Now another must win game today @ home v. Bosnia. Good thing its in Lviv, our lucky rabbit foot. God speed to the lads, may the futbol gods favor us...

 

The big difference is we played 5 defenders v. Bosnia at home. If Sheva was the manager Malinovsky would have played instead of Kryvtsov. End of Story.

This 5-2-3 and 5-4-1 hybrid wins tournaments (only reason Ukraine are u-20 World Cup champs and Chelsea won Champs League while nowhere near the best team) but its extremely boring anti-futbol. The most disappointing is Petrakov doesn't seem to use an advanced version of it. Was insane how deep we were defending in the 60th min, something you'd only expect maybe after 85 minutes. Haven't seen such a low defensive block since Fomenko v. Germany in Euro2016 opener, it was a tactical catastrophe in the 2nd half. It actually got worse when he got even more defensive subbing Shaparenko out for Sidorchuk and playing 2 holding mids. and it was criminal to take Yaremchuk off for an inexperience bench striker for Shakhtar, made life for Bosnia even easier than it was. He really tried to defend a cleansheet when Bosnia could've already scored 5

Good point about Zubkov being the kicker in that situation, don't agree about him not being technical, saw him doing sick tricks on the official NT youtube channel, he's just woefully out of form since being hurt 10 minutes into Euro's. Tsygankov just finally finding some form again, he skips around challenges decent enough. Went on an amazing solo dribble beating like 3 Bosnians early in the 2nd half, we almost scored on England because of a moment of magic from him. I think most of both their struggles are form related. Shaparenko is absolute class, we beat Sweden largely thanks to his poise (and 2 golasos) and we beat Finland for the same reason. He lacked 1 extra attacking player to link up with because we played 5 defenders. He's a classy CM. Matvyienko was absolutely superb yesterday, our best player easily. Zabarniy looked very sluggish for some reason, need him to improve. Tymchyk is a massive downgrade to Karavaev. The funny thing about Tymchyk, had he scored that chance to make it 2-0 we would be talking about how great the 5-2-3 is, it was Sobol to Tymchyk combo, the 2 wingbacks haha. When you are fast athletic and cover ground its a decent formation, if you're tired and slow its useless

 

If Bosnia & Finland tie there's a good chance Ukraine will finish 2nd with 1 win and 7 draws lmao!

We are undefeated in qualifiers since Oct. 12, 2015 when we lost to Spain, exactly 6 years ago yesterday. My fbook day in the past today showed a highlight from our win v. Spain a year ago today in Nations League actually, when we knifed them open with a Yarmolenko to Tsygankov pass with electric speed. Like you said, something about 2021 has been off. Injuries played a big part imo. Malinovsky, Tsygankov & Zubkov all plagued by injuries during delayed Euro's and now our psychopath coach doesn't even call up our best player

Petrakov body language was an absolute embarrassment on the touchline btw. Guy was breathing deep heavy breathes when cameras panned to him several times, including 2 minutes into the game! His overreactions to us missing a chance is such a weak mentality, it truly is like another Blokhin type. Its an absolute disgrace they fired Sheva and shows what a hopeless country Ukraine is. Worst part is he was fired for speaking Russian essentially and being unhappy about the politics of the Crimea jersey

 

Found out later Lviv had a banner thanking Petrakov for speaking Ukrainian, embarrassing stuff

I heard about the new playoff system but couldn't believe it. Do you know how it works?? There will be some really solid teams in the playoffs, will be a bloodbath to get in even if we make the playoff stage...

 

Wtf?!?!?

So if I'm understanding correctly UEFA lost 2 teams? Would normally be 5 playoff qualifiers but now only 3?? Which continent did they give those spots to?? It was already insanely difficult to qualify from UEFA, Ukraine essentially played World Cup semifinal level games in 1998, 2002 & 2014 v. Croatia, Germany & France just to reach the tournament, meanwhile Canada & Panama are battling to see who gets to go to the World Cup, what a fvcking joke

Realistically the Euro's is better and harder to win than the World Cup, its like the old Big East compared to March Madness. Ukraine easily advance to quarterfinals in 2 of 4 tournaments we actually participated in lol...

 

Sporting Gijon have a Ukrainian as their RB & LB, I knew of Vasyl Kravets who spent time @ Leganes in LaLiga, but they also have a RB named Bogdan Milovanov, he scored last week and his advanced stats ratings are very good like Eduard Sobol's always are, even in Champs League losses...

Is he really worse than Karavaev & Tymchyk?? Also telling that Lucescu starts Karavaev @ LB over Tymchyk today v. Barca, yet in Ukraina's biggest games Petrakov plays inexperienced Tymchyk out of spite for Karavaev getting beat by a roided up Kazakh..