Mykhailychenko’s Tournament Strategy

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After a not so easy victory over Liechtenstein Ukraine U-21 head coach Olexiy Mykhailychenko complained about his team that made its task more complicated by not converting many chances into goals throughout the game. “We are always like that, we could secure the win in the first half but instead got a nervous ending”, the head coach said ironically.

Conversation on the stand

Olexiy Mykhailychenko could not come to the post match press conference because of his two match disqualification. Therefore he spoke with Ukrainian journalists on the only stand of the Eschen town stadium. “We are of course satisfied with the result but not with the quality of play”, the head coach confessed. “We had a lot of chances and if we were to use them more carefully we could secure our win before the break. However the players wasted those great chances shamelessly”

Preparation level factor

“I think the reason for this is our lack of skill. Otherwise it is hard to explain how the opponents who barely could enter our half of the pitch still managed to create problems for us. A possible reason is that games for U-21 team are the only matches some of the players get to play in months. Shust, Pryyomov, Mandzyuk, Oliynyk, Antonov, Rybka, Morozyuk and many others severely lack match practice, Kravcheno also plays less than we would want to. With such level of preparation it is difficult to play well.”

A hard nut to crack

“In addition our guys were upset after the defeat from Turkey”, said Mykhailychenko’s assistant Gennady Lytovchenko who substituted his boss in the post match press conference. “This could explain their constraint and nervousness. Also one should not underestimate Liechtenstein. Czechs managed to score their first goal against them only at the end of the first half, Turks also struggled to get three points here.”

The chances remain

Both specialists agreed that Ukraine still had real chances to win its group or to take second position with necessary points to get to playoffs. “Turks are yet to play with Czechs and everything can happen in those matches”, Lytovchenko noted. “In any case current situation leaves us no choice but to win all remaining matches. This is our tournament strategy”, said Mykhailychenko.

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