The head coach of Ukraine's U-16 team (players born in 2010 or later) Volodymyr Samborskyi shared plans for the Italian camp.

On November 1, Ukraine's youngest national team, the U-16 squad, departed for Italy for a short-term training session and began work on the 2nd. On the 4th and 6th, they will play two friendly matches against Italian peers.

The head coach of the team, Volodymyr Samborskyi, spoke to the official website of the Ukrainian Football Federation about the plans for the camp.

— Mr. Volodymyr, is the goal of this training session still unchanged? Selection?

— That's correct. Compared to the September camp, we have nine new players in our squad. The selection process continues. We closely monitor those players who are performing well in their clubs. Now, some of them have arrived from abroad, although not all, as three or four players sustained injuries.

We have a group of players who, if they do not lower their standards, will form the backbone of this team in the future, so we could not miss the opportunity to observe them against strong opposition.  

— Were there any limitations regarding the number of players for this camp?

— Yes. The Italian side requested that the squad consist of 20 players (18 field players and two goalkeepers). However, nothing to worry about, we will make do with what we have.

— Did you manage to study the Italian team?

— We watched several of their matches. The Italian youth teams play in one tactical system, aggressive and vertical football. Nevertheless, we do not intend to tailor our approach to the opponent. We have our own plans. We need to work on defense, tactics, positional attacks. Given that there are new players, a lot of time needs to be dedicated to individual talks with the boys.

Composition of Ukraine's U-16 team

Goalkeepers: Igor Galdin («Levante», Spain), Danylo Sychov («Kryvyi Rih»).

Defenders: Maxim Misyura, Yegor Falkovskyi (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Artem Mazur («Dynamo» Kyiv), Kostiantyn Kislyanka («Rukh» Lviv), Timofei Reznik (Cherkasy LNZ), Bohdan Begmetiuk («Milan», Italy), Mykhailo Abramovich («Gorica», Croatia).

Midfielders: Ilya Ostrovsky, Denys Gordiyev (both — «Rukh» Lviv), Ilya Birladyanu («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Myroslav Donik (Cherkasy LNZ), Artem Rybak («Barcelona», Spain), Zahar Osykhin («Getafe», Spain).

Forwards: Artur Martyniuk («Dynamo» Kyiv), Artem Fedushko, Oleksii Dziurenets, Ilya Bodak (all — «Rukh» Lviv), Sviatoslav Serdyukovskyy («Uzhhorod»).