Our team have great potential
Monday, June 24, 2019
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Shakhtar U14 coach Oscar Ratulutra shared his impressions of the season and of winning the Ukrainian League final
- It was a great season, and we are happy to become champions in the youngest age group! This is the result of tremendous work, for which I would like to say a big thank you to the management and staff of the Academy, the coaching staff and, above all, the players. We are very pleased with the way the guys performed during the season: they stepped it up significantly and matured noticeably, they worked hard in training and approached each match responsibly. And this brought us a well-deserved result - the league title.
- Was the Shakhtar vs Dynamo final the best ending to the season?
- Even at that young age, they very well feel the importance of this encounter. The players do not even need to be psyched up for such games - they entered the field already being as motivated as possible. We only asked the guys to demonstrate in the last clash everything that we had done and practised during the year. They did a great job!
- The Shakhtar Academy director Jorge Raffo pointed out that the U14 team have some great potential. Do you agree with that?
- That’s absolutely true. And this is evidenced not only by their success in the Ukrainian Championship, but also, for example, the results of the team performance at the international tournament this spring in Spain, where we played very well and reached the final. That’s also a serious indicator. Plus, our players received three personal awards at the end of the season: Vlad Kravets became the best goalkeeper, Maks Derkach is the best striker, and Oleksandr Yuschenko is the player of the final tournament.
- Your team is the first one to have received the participants of the projects Come On, Let’s Play! and Talent Day last summer. How did they perform?
- Maksym Derkach joined us through Talent Day, and you see what results he has achieved: he scored many goals, became one of the team leaders and the league’s best striker. While Mykola Ogarkov came to us from the Dobropillia branch of the Come On, Let’s Play! - last year, during the competition finals in Shchaslyve, our scouts paid attention to him and invited him for trials. As a result, he was the main defender throughout the season and also displayed excellent play. I think this is a good signal for other boys all over the country meaning that thanks to such projects it is possible to fulfill your dream - to get enrolled to the Shakhtar Academy and become a professional footballer.
- Was the Shakhtar vs Dynamo final the best ending to the season?
- Even at that young age, they very well feel the importance of this encounter. The players do not even need to be psyched up for such games - they entered the field already being as motivated as possible. We only asked the guys to demonstrate in the last clash everything that we had done and practised during the year. They did a great job!
- The Shakhtar Academy director Jorge Raffo pointed out that the U14 team have some great potential. Do you agree with that?
- That’s absolutely true. And this is evidenced not only by their success in the Ukrainian Championship, but also, for example, the results of the team performance at the international tournament this spring in Spain, where we played very well and reached the final. That’s also a serious indicator. Plus, our players received three personal awards at the end of the season: Vlad Kravets became the best goalkeeper, Maks Derkach is the best striker, and Oleksandr Yuschenko is the player of the final tournament.
- Your team is the first one to have received the participants of the projects Come On, Let’s Play! and Talent Day last summer. How did they perform?
- Maksym Derkach joined us through Talent Day, and you see what results he has achieved: he scored many goals, became one of the team leaders and the league’s best striker. While Mykola Ogarkov came to us from the Dobropillia branch of the Come On, Let’s Play! - last year, during the competition finals in Shchaslyve, our scouts paid attention to him and invited him for trials. As a result, he was the main defender throughout the season and also displayed excellent play. I think this is a good signal for other boys all over the country meaning that thanks to such projects it is possible to fulfill your dream - to get enrolled to the Shakhtar Academy and become a professional footballer.