The coach of the “blue-yellows” summed up the final match of the group stage for the Ukrainians.
Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Serhiy Rebrov gave a press conference after the match of the last 6th round of the group round of the League of Nations of the 2024/25 season against Albania.
On Tuesday, November 19, the Ukrainian national team won awayAlbania (2:1) and, having taken second place in its group, advanced to the playoffs for the right to play in the elite division of the League of Nations.
The answers of the coach of the “blue-yellows” to journalists' questions are given on the official website of the UAF.
– Have you ever thought about why not win calmly at least once?
– At this level, you can't win calmly at all. A very difficult away game. It is even more difficult to play two days after a difficult game and a difficult field in Georgia. Every game of the Ukrainian national team is very difficult.
– How would you rate the performance of the Albanian national team?
– We had a very tough group, all the teams were playing in Euro 2024. I am grateful to the players for getting us to the playoffs, it was very tough. The Albanian national team, with the support of the fans, showed their strength in the second half. It is very good that we held on to such a score.
– Were you afraid that Albania could still save the match?
– We don’t need to be afraid, we need to react. We made some substitutions. We understood that it was very difficult to play in Tirana with such support from the fans. Albania is a strong team that performed quite confidently at the Euro. We prepared for this team, for this game, and today’s result was very important.
– You secured your place in the playoffs based on the results of the match. Don’t you think that in the previous matches the Ukrainian team was not so appreciated as a team?
– We had a very equal group, all the teams were high-level. That’s why the fight lasted until the last round. I don’t think that all our failures were due to the game. It was an equal fight, even the first match against Albania. Both we and our opponent had their moments. It’s very important that today the guys went out to the decisive game with a completely different mood and showed our strength.
– Are you satisfied with the experiments that were carried out during the Nations League? Many new players appeared, how do you rate their performances?
– We had two goals in the Nations League. The first was to try to get into the playoffs for the World Cup, as it was during the Euro 2024 qualifiers. The second was to look at the players who played for the youth team and competed at the Olympics. I think we accomplished both goals, and now we are playing in the playoffs. The players who made it into the national team have gained confidence and intensity in their game. If you saw, Alexey Sych, who was not preparing to play for the national team and was called up later, came out on the field today. But he came out on the field and played at a very high level.
– You made successful substitutions in the starting lineup. How would you rate the performance of these players?
– It was a very tough training camp because Dynamo and Shakhtar players play a lot, logistics were tough, many players had minor injuries. It was very tough to choose the lineup. I always understand that we have to play two matches. If the lineup that you can consider the main one comes out in the first match, then we think about how to refresh it with other players. As you saw, there wasn’t enough intensity against Georgia. Today, with these players and their motivation, we added intensity.
– Who would you like to play against in the playoffs?
– Before the game, we didn’t think about who our opponents would be. It was very important to win and show Ukraine's strength.
The Ukrainian national team finished second in Group B1 with 8 points and will play in the playoffs for a ticket to Division A. The Czech Republic (11 points) won our quartet, immediately rising to the elite of the League of Nations. Georgia (7 points) came in third and will compete in the playoffs to retain their place in Division B. Albania (7 points) took the last place and was relegated to Division C.
Rebrov's team will find out their opponent in the fight for a ticket to League A on Friday, November 22, during the draw. It will be one of the teams that finished third in the Division A groups: Scotland, Belgium, Hungary or Serbia.
The playoff matches will take place on 20 and 23 March 2025. The Ukrainian team will be the nominal host of the first match.