Main coach of the Ukrainian U-15 youth team, Volodymyr Samborskyi, summarized the training camp and participation in the UEFA Development Tournament.

The youngest Ukrainian U-15 national team (players born in 2011 or later) performed triumphantly at the UEFA Development Tournament held in Portugal. The blue-and-yellow team, winning three matches, secured first place.

After returning home, the main coach of our team, Volodymyr Samborskyi, answered questions from the official website of the Ukrainian Football Federation (UAF).

— Mr. Volodymyr, what are your impressions from the performance of your wards?

— We studied Portugal well after the first two matches. Therefore, it was clear how to play against them and what to expect from our opponents. However, the main thing was to teach the boys that such strong opponents should not be feared. It is necessary to believe in oneself and impose one's game. Perhaps, in terms of technique, the Portuguese are better than our players, but this has been a long-standing problem when children only start playing football. Sadly, we do not yet put enough emphasis on what needs to be worked on from the very beginning.

However, I would like to emphasize that this difference is not critical and with great desire, these gaps can be bridged. Once again, I stress that our boys at such an age should believe in themselves and change their mindset. Then a lot will come out.

Of course, it was pleasant to win against such a strong lineup of participants, but there is still much to work on. It is necessary to play the game. We could see that our players were too nervous, even those who play abroad.

— But you won three matches...

— Yes. And I want to say that only in the first match against Greece, the quality of our game left something to be desired. The Greeks have a very strong team from a physical standpoint and they play simple, powerful football, press a lot, and we were somewhat overloaded in this struggle. But then, as they say, our boys got into their stride. We did not conduct pre-match training but went through the full process to tell the players about the demands of the coaching staff. We want to achieve results that are based on playing well; this is much more important in the long term.

In Ukraine, we have very talented children, and we can outmaneuver strong European teams when it comes to play. Our footballers are great. The game tempo was much higher than in the championship, which led to more mistakes as decisions had to be made faster. But the boys tried their best, and this turned into a victory in the tournament. It is good that we started with a positive result. This will add strength and motivation to the players for the future.

Photo courtesy of UAF press service

UEFA Development Tournament among youth teams U-15

17.12. Greece — Ukraine — 1:3

17.12. Portugal — Ireland — 5:0

19.12. Ukraine — Ireland — 1:0

19.12. Portugal — Greece — 6:3

22.12. Portugal — Ukraine — 0:0, on penalties — 4:5 

22.12. Ireland — Greece — 3:1

Final table

Ukrainian U-15 youth team squad

GK: Oleksandr Varivoda («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Karim Bahriev («Dynamo» Kyiv), Aleksander Simoskov («Barcelona», Spain).

DF: Oleksandr Chmelov, Artem Maluta, Oleksandr Ivashyn (all — «Ruh» Lviv), Dmytro Tsybenia («Bayern» Munich, Germany), Velizar Artukovich, Daniil Lapunov (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Oleksandr Dziwonik («Lviv Coast» Kyiv), Artem Babenko («Borussia» Mönchengladbach, Germany).

DM: Shain Kochura («Ruh» Lviv), Ivan Nageytsky («Borussia» Mönchengladbach, Germany), Myroslav Vasyskivskyi («Liverpool», England), Mykhailo Bondyuk, Arseniy Semenchenko (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Yevhen Kozachuk («Kryvyi Rih» Kryvyi Rih).

FW: Oleksandr Volodin («Espanyol» Barcelona, Spain), Nikita Drозд («Nurnberg», Germany), Andriy Cholak («Ruh» Lviv), Artem Zamoshytskyi («Lviv Coast» Kyiv).