We lacked finishing and maybe luck
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
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Shakhtar U19 defender and captain of Ukraine U19 team Eduard Kozik reflects on the participation of the national team in the 2022 UEFA European U19 Championship elite round
- Please share your emotions after the recent game. Have you already done the first analysis of the match and the result?
- I would like to thank the organizers for the conditions that they provided to our team. My impressions of the elite round game are twofold. On the one hand, in a short period of time we did a good job and achieved a pretty good result. On the other hand, there’s a kind of gall remaining because in the last game we could score even more goals and finish in the top spot due to that.
- What did you feel when you found out that even a comeback victory over the Netherlands did not secure the top spot for the team?
- It was disappointing that we couldn't advance further due to the number of yellow cards earned. Anything can happen in football. This kind of outcome in the elite round is bad, but much worse is the fact that people are killed every day in Ukraine.
- In general, are you satisfied with those three matches as our team had significantly less match practice in 2022 compared to the opponents?
- Of course, I'm happy with our play. Indeed, other teams were in good shape, while ours was only training for two and a half weeks due to the war in the country, we also had no league matches. We showed a good result and gained some very useful international experience. I want to repeat that we lacked finishing and maybe good luck. The games were easy enough for us, but in the dying stages the ball simply would not go into the back of the net, it happens. We need to work on the mistakes and move on.
- How did the events taking place in the country affect the team’s mood?
- While psyching ourselves up in the dressing room for every match, we were thinking about the Ukrainians, about our defenders who are at the frontline now. We took the field with a desire to win, to bring even some little joy to our country and people. The war in Ukraine has been doubly motivating in terms of the result. I would like to thank our soldiers and bow to them for the courage that they have been showing on the battlefield. Glory to Ukraine and glory to the Armed Forces!