Playing with a man down, the “blue-yellows” in the 90+8th minute, they scored the decisive goal.
Players of the Ukrainian national football team commented on the dramatic victory over Morocco in the second round match of the 2024 Olympic football tournament.
Ruslan Rotan's team, in the minority, snatched the victory (2:1). The decisive goal in the 90+8th minute was scored by Igor Krasnopir.
After the end of the match, Krasnopir spoke about the victory, which became the first in the history of the Ukrainian football team's performance at the Olympics.
“To be honest, I was just lying down at that moment, I was very short of breath. When I scored the goal, I thought that the goal would be counted and I didn't even think that they would check it, I was just resting.
How hard is it to play under such pressure from the stands? Very hard. You go out to the stadium and they boo you. It's psychologically stressful. But we are professionals, we have to adapt to different circumstances. But we “calmed down” on this pressure.
We are forgetting this match, we have the final in the group for reaching the playoff round left. All thoughts are on the next matches. Argentina is a serious opponent. We are moving on,” Suspilne Sport quotes the author of the winning goal as saying.
The “blue-yellows” midfielder Maksim Khlan also shared his emotions after the victory over the Moroccans.
“I have repeatedly noted our Ukrainian spirit, that our nation pushes us forward. And we are forced to show only this style and character of football. And we do not care who plays against us, what names – we protect our family and country. This is the most important thing for us.
Ukraine's first victory at the Olympics? I am aware of my happiness, but we need to put aside “hot” thoughts and think about Argentina. We are professionals and cannot afford the effect of joy. In two days there is already the next match, and we need to concentrate, no matter how difficult it is for us. I want to emphasize: this is all for our country. While missiles are flying and the war is going on, we cannot complain that it is difficult for us. We are preparing for the next game and only to win.
Honestly speaking, in the first half we played only as the first number, imposing our game. But as the game progressed, we saw that we needed to retreat somewhere. This was also the right tactic. Unfortunately, the red card shook us, but we did not stop, held on until the end and took advantage of this moment.
Penalty? Some kind of curse. But as you can see, it doesn't get any better. Sometimes we need someone to peck us in the ass so that we can run. That's why it happens – it's good that it happened,” Suspilne Sport quotes Khlan as saying.
The author of Ukraine's first goal in this match, Dmytro Kryskiv, also spoke about his emotions after the victory over Morocco.
“The emotions are positive. I am happy that we were able to snatch the victory in the last minutes. But we probably need to dig into ourselves a little, because we can't give away the game like that. I didn't like how we played at the beginning of the second half, and then we gave away the advantage. This is not like us, we need to play with the ball more. We have quality, we show in some moments that we can play, but it doesn't work out. But thank you for the team fighting until the end, winning three points. We are still in the fight and will do the same as today, give everything in the next game for a positive result.
Was the removal fair? It's hard to say. In my opinion, there was no penalty in the last game, and the game was turned upside down – I don't know. That's how they took away our game in the last match, here a red card and a penalty. We need to see, but two such decisions – I don't know, I don't like it,” Kryskiv summed up in a comment to Suspilne Sport.
The head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team Ruslan Rotan also praised the historic victory.
“We have to give credit to our guys, who were well-disposed. Even when we were down a man, we were striving for a result, fighting for it. They deserved it, 100%. This only evened out our chances. We have the last match in the group, where we shouldn't look at who we're playing against.
I think it was a small lesson for the guys, and we have a lot of new players who are playing in such tournaments for the first time. They saw that it was possible to beat the Moroccan national team, there were players there who had reached the World Cup semi-finals. We have to give credit for that,” Suspilne Sport quotes the coach of the “blue-yellows.”
It should be noted that Ukraine is represented in the Olympic football tournament for the first time in history at the 2024 Games.
In the first round, the Ukrainian team lost to Iraq (1:2), and the Moroccan team beat Argentina (2:1) in a scandalous match.
In another match of the second round of Group B, the Argentina team beat Iraq with a score of 3:1.
Group B standings after two rounds: Argentina (3 points), Morocco (3 points), Ukraine (3 points), Iraq (3 points).
In the final, third round of the group stage, Rotan's team will play Argentina in Lyon on July 30. Morocco and Iraq will compete in a parallel match.
The two best teams from each quartet will advance to the playoffs. If the “blue-yellows” manage to get through to the quarterfinals, they will compete there with a representative of Group A (France, USA, Guinea, New Zealand).
According to the regulations, players born after January 1, 2001 are allowed to participate in the Olympic football tournament. Each team was allowed to include only three players older than this age in the application.