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Photo – Alexander Prikhodko
The personnel losses, which covered the national team, came to the quarry in a wave. However, even without the trio of defenders who went to Andriy Shevchenko (Zabarny, Cheberko, Konoplya), as well as the “crowned” players of “Shakhtar” and “Alexandria” (Trubin, Kornienko, Sudakov, Baboglo and Bilyk), our team was quite prepared for combat. …
The composition of the Romanian youth team is unlikely to say anything to the average fan except for two names: the legendary Adrian Mutu is coaching this team, and the guests were Tudor Balutse, who is now a Dynamo player. Remember Dennis Man’s name too – they say the Dynamo Kiev saw the forward this fall, and there’s a reason for that – in the last five official matches he has scored eight incredible goals.
The teams were given ample time to write such an extensive introduction. Adrian Mutu did not criticize the Obolon-Arena turf in vain: the First League club’s field was actually very slimy and crushed the ball. This clearly affected the quality of the attack, which was already limping on both sides. Therefore, soccer has become one of the types of wrestling.
In addition, it was annoying that the Ukrainian midfield did not connect defense with attack: our guys in this zone did not deploy attacks and did not close off the opponent’s offense. For a quarter of the fight there was only one sharp moment, and even that was conditional – the man beat Riznyk from close range, but scored from offside.
Our more or less dignified response in the first half was just one: Lunev opened on the right, drew the ball from the depths and gave it to the center of the area, and Nazarenko shot wide. As a result, 45 minutes of the fight had to be completed without hitting the opponent’s goal.
After the break, nothing has changed in a special way. The Romanians were more focused and seemed to have a better understanding of how to be successful. We just couldn’t get the ball into the penalty area of the national team with the tricolor flag.
Tsitaishvili and Shevtsov revived the game of the hosts. The second of them became the author of the first shot on goal from the Romanian goal (with his head under the counter), and then Popov also hit very well with his head – the goalkeeper coped with both shots.
The balance tipped in our direction after Tsitaishvili’s individual pass: Geo entered the penalty area and fell, passing two defenders. None of the replays showed where there was contact with the opponent, but the referee scored a penalty: Buleta converted.
The Romanians were able to restore parity at lightning speed: Pashkanu, after a corner kick, caught Riznyk at a wrong exit from the gate, bursting into the shelf.
Our team was not without its nerves, but it maintained the winning result. Let’s call in lousy penalty compensation for a rare Denmark goal 90 + 5 minutes ago a month ago, which stole our victory.
Until the end of the national team, the Ukrainians have three games left. Before the theoretically last second place in Euro 2021 (Romania simply takes it) six points and a game ahead of the Romanians. Take out the selection?
Ukraine – Romania 1: 0
Goals: Bulets 80 (pen)
Ukraine: Riznyk – Vantukh (Lebedenko 16), Sirota, Popov, Dubinchak – Buletsa, Batagov, Bondarenko (Czech 66) – Nazarenko (Tsitaishvili 60), Lunev (Topalov 46) – Sikan (Shevtsov 66)
Warnings: Bondarenko 24, Buletsa 58, Riznyk 88
