“The national team had never played football like this”

The head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Andriy Shevchenko, summarized the intermediate results of his work with the team, which he has led since 2016:

“It has been four years of progress. In 2016, we started in specific conditions, when we were faced with two tasks at once: rebuilding the team and at the same time showing the result in the qualifying cycle. It has been tough, but we are happy with how the national team has changed during this time, happy with how we have gone.

But there is still a lot of work ahead on a new qualitative level. After all, Ukraine now plays in Division A of the Nations League and is preparing to participate in the Eurocup.

It is important that the coaches of the national team maintain the level of the team in which they are. The team met for the first time since last fall. As always, we have little time to prepare, unlike in clubs. Our goals in the League of Nations are adequate: we, like everyone else, want to win.

We have radically changed the way the team plays. Now it is the domain, the control of the ball, the combined football. The national team had never played football like this before and, of course, it took time to adjust.

I am satisfied with the attitude of the guys towards all the processes, but I also look forward to a more concentrated work on their part. The game is not stopping, there will still be changes ahead. “

Yesterday, the Ukraine team in the first round of the Nations League beat Switzerland 2: 1.