Friendly match. Norway (U-21) - Ukraine (U-21) 1:0.

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Norway (U-21) − Ukraine (U-21) − 1:0

Goal: Mathisen (90+2).

Norway: Andreas Lie (Lasse Staw, 46) − Steffen Hagen, Arnar Førsund, Jørgen Horn, Andreas Nordvik (John Anders Rise, 46) − Vidar Nisja, Vadim Demidov (Steinar Strømnes, 67) − Tarik Elyounoussi, Endre Fotland Knudsen (Alexander Mathisen, 46), Christer Kleiven − Tore Andreas Gundersen (Cato Hansen, 80).

Ukraine: Zahladko, Hryhoryk (Baryshnikov, 63), Kurylov, Vovkodav, Selin, Morozyuk (Chesnakov, 40, Postupalenko, 67), M. Pashayev, Luhachov, Shvaryn (Zherebtsov, 65), Bidlovskiy (Makarenko, 44), Lysenko.

Despite having showed quite a good game, Ukraine U-21 team succumbed to Norway. Ukrainians provided domination during the match, and at the end they just squeezed the hosts in their own half. Nevertheless, the ‘blue-yellows’ lost the vigilance for a second and that cost them a goal.

Double loss

First of all, it’s worth noting that the trip to Norway appeared to be rather stiff. The problems overtook our side back on March 24 in Boryspil airport. It turned out that Dnipro lads Anton Kanibolotskiy and Dmytro Lyopa failed to take their passports. Consequently, they had to get back home. Certainly, Lyopa’s absence was hard for the team as he proved himself a true leader in the last matches of U-21 team.

Slip on the last minutes

The pinnacle of Ukrainian bad luck became evident when Oleksiy Kurylov headed the ball on the last minute but one. But Norwegian defender intercepted it on the goal line. That was probably the moment when our guys eased up a bit and lost sight of Alexander Mathisen who sealed the victory for his team. It’s sad but our guys will mind what it means to keep vigilance till the final signal.

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