EnglishThe fight for the title is a key factor
Sunday, March 30, 2025
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Head coach of Shakhtar youth team Oleksii Bielik talked about the victory over Obolon U19 and the expectations for the crucial part of the season
– Shakhtar U19 defeated Obolon U19 in an intense match. What will be the summary of this game?
– A tough match. It is clear that Dynamo U19 are historically important rivals, while we have met Obolon U19 five times, as far as I remember. We managed to beat them in one of the matches: we possessed the ball 80% of the time, created many chances and scored the penalty goal. At the first stage of the current campaign, under the same scenario, we missed a penalty and could not win. In the friendly match, we also had enough moments to win with a crushing score, but we ended it with 1-1. This is a really tough opponent for us, they know how to focus and give fight – today’s match was no exception. I am grateful to the guys for the active start and early goals. But, as they say, bad things come in threes. Tryfanenko, who had been recovering from an injury for a long time and seemed to have regained his form, was injured again. He was active on the right wing, and we opened the scoring thanks to his actions and interaction with his teammates. Immediately after that, we conceded an unexpected goal, and instead of calmly bringing the first half to an end, we also lost an important player. Sometimes, due to the great desire to do the best, footballers make mistakes and do not always make the right decisions. When facing such physically strong teams as Obolon U19, we start playing catch-up, although at this point we should control the ball more calmly and bring the attacks to completion. We created many goal-scoring opportunities but lacked conversion. Almost all of our training process is built with a focus on attack, although we do not forget about defence. We are Shakhtar U19, and we want to gain an advantage and win through attacking play. About 90% of the training process is devoted to practising attacking actions, interaction and finishing. We want to finish matches more calmly. When our advantage is minimal, the opponent has nothing to lose – they have to move forward, and at this moment we have to either press them, using mistakes, or risk losing the lead, as it happened in the previous game against Karpaty U19.
– How serious is Bohdan Tryfanenko’s injury?
– These are probably specifics of his body. He got into great shape at the first stage, but later pulled his back muscle, due to which he skipped more than a month. Perhaps, he returned to training too soon after the injury during the training camp. This is understandable, because the footballer wanted to recover and return to the training process as soon as possible. However, he was injured again during the training camp. After the camp, he took a longer break, returned, but was injured again. But, according to him, this time the pain was not as intense as before. I hope he will miss no more than 10–14 days. Tryfanenko has speed and dribbling. Today, having spent only 30 minutes on the field, he created dangerous moments near the opponent’s goal.
– Yaroslav Mylokost was included in the starting line-up for the second time in a row. How noticeable is his progress?
– We really have a lot of young defenders, such as Kostiuk, Mylokost, Dankovskyi, Onishchuk and Harabazhii. We understand that these are talented performers who, when playing in the DUFLU championship for the younger teams of the Academy, are used to always controlling the ball, acting without proper pressure and tough fight. Even if there is a struggle, it is necessary to consider that when the team defeat an opponent by a large score, it is minimal, and you can calmly bring the match to victory. This is where the problem arises: we have technically strong defenders who work wonderfully with the ball, but they lack aggression and confidence in duels. We adhere to the principle that the footballer who wins the competition in the training process and demonstrates results during matches will get a place in the starting line-up. Currently, Mylokost in the right central defender position is the best in terms of fighting. All the young performers play with the ball well, but in terms of duels and competitive anger he is currently superior to the others. That is why he deserves a place in the first eleven. What will happen in the future is unknown, because there is competition between the guys.
– The crucial part of the season is ahead. What are your goals and expectations?
– During the pre-season, we were five points ahead of Dynamo Kyiv U19, but then we failed in the matches against Livyi Bereh U19 and Kryvbas U19 – the games in which we should not have done so. At the same time, we did not struggle, and even in the minority we looked better than our opponent, but we did not convert our chances, and the odds turned against us a little. Of course, we wanted to approach the game against Dynamo U19 as the league leaders, with a certain handicap. We are currently one point behind our opponent, but I am not the kind of coach who will give up the fight for the title despite everything, while there are still mathematical chances. I understand that I am in this position primarily for development of the footballers, but the fight for the title is a key factor that helps the players progress faster. That is why I will never give up this fight.
– A tough match. It is clear that Dynamo U19 are historically important rivals, while we have met Obolon U19 five times, as far as I remember. We managed to beat them in one of the matches: we possessed the ball 80% of the time, created many chances and scored the penalty goal. At the first stage of the current campaign, under the same scenario, we missed a penalty and could not win. In the friendly match, we also had enough moments to win with a crushing score, but we ended it with 1-1. This is a really tough opponent for us, they know how to focus and give fight – today’s match was no exception. I am grateful to the guys for the active start and early goals. But, as they say, bad things come in threes. Tryfanenko, who had been recovering from an injury for a long time and seemed to have regained his form, was injured again. He was active on the right wing, and we opened the scoring thanks to his actions and interaction with his teammates. Immediately after that, we conceded an unexpected goal, and instead of calmly bringing the first half to an end, we also lost an important player. Sometimes, due to the great desire to do the best, footballers make mistakes and do not always make the right decisions. When facing such physically strong teams as Obolon U19, we start playing catch-up, although at this point we should control the ball more calmly and bring the attacks to completion. We created many goal-scoring opportunities but lacked conversion. Almost all of our training process is built with a focus on attack, although we do not forget about defence. We are Shakhtar U19, and we want to gain an advantage and win through attacking play. About 90% of the training process is devoted to practising attacking actions, interaction and finishing. We want to finish matches more calmly. When our advantage is minimal, the opponent has nothing to lose – they have to move forward, and at this moment we have to either press them, using mistakes, or risk losing the lead, as it happened in the previous game against Karpaty U19.
– How serious is Bohdan Tryfanenko’s injury?
– These are probably specifics of his body. He got into great shape at the first stage, but later pulled his back muscle, due to which he skipped more than a month. Perhaps, he returned to training too soon after the injury during the training camp. This is understandable, because the footballer wanted to recover and return to the training process as soon as possible. However, he was injured again during the training camp. After the camp, he took a longer break, returned, but was injured again. But, according to him, this time the pain was not as intense as before. I hope he will miss no more than 10–14 days. Tryfanenko has speed and dribbling. Today, having spent only 30 minutes on the field, he created dangerous moments near the opponent’s goal.
– Yaroslav Mylokost was included in the starting line-up for the second time in a row. How noticeable is his progress?
– We really have a lot of young defenders, such as Kostiuk, Mylokost, Dankovskyi, Onishchuk and Harabazhii. We understand that these are talented performers who, when playing in the DUFLU championship for the younger teams of the Academy, are used to always controlling the ball, acting without proper pressure and tough fight. Even if there is a struggle, it is necessary to consider that when the team defeat an opponent by a large score, it is minimal, and you can calmly bring the match to victory. This is where the problem arises: we have technically strong defenders who work wonderfully with the ball, but they lack aggression and confidence in duels. We adhere to the principle that the footballer who wins the competition in the training process and demonstrates results during matches will get a place in the starting line-up. Currently, Mylokost in the right central defender position is the best in terms of fighting. All the young performers play with the ball well, but in terms of duels and competitive anger he is currently superior to the others. That is why he deserves a place in the first eleven. What will happen in the future is unknown, because there is competition between the guys.
– The crucial part of the season is ahead. What are your goals and expectations?
– During the pre-season, we were five points ahead of Dynamo Kyiv U19, but then we failed in the matches against Livyi Bereh U19 and Kryvbas U19 – the games in which we should not have done so. At the same time, we did not struggle, and even in the minority we looked better than our opponent, but we did not convert our chances, and the odds turned against us a little. Of course, we wanted to approach the game against Dynamo U19 as the league leaders, with a certain handicap. We are currently one point behind our opponent, but I am not the kind of coach who will give up the fight for the title despite everything, while there are still mathematical chances. I understand that I am in this position primarily for development of the footballers, but the fight for the title is a key factor that helps the players progress faster. That is why I will never give up this fight.