Volodymyr Samborskyi: "Happy to have played against one of the strongest European national teams"

Head coach of Ukraine's youth team (players born in 2010 or later) Volodymyr Samborskyi has summed up the recent training camp.

Volodymyr Samborskyi: "Happy to have played against one of the strongest European national teams"

Photo by the UAF press service

The head coach of Ukraine's under-16 national team (players born in 2010 or later) Volodymyr Samborskyi has summed up the recent training camp.

Ukraine's U-16 national team concluded their training camp, which took place in Italy. There, they played two friendlies against local counterparts (2:6 and 0:3).

Upon returning home, the head coach of our team Volodymyr Samborskyi gave an interview to the official website of the UAF summarizing the camp.

— Mr. Volodymyr, what are your conclusions regarding the recent training camp?

— I am satisfied that we managed to play against such a strong team as Italy's national side. To be more precise, I consider it one of the strongest in Europe in this age category. It was good for us to see our team in games with Italians at the very beginning of its formation. We saw what we need to work on primarily. Note that for nine of our footballers, this was their first such experience, while our opponent already had a core of their team.

This was an invaluable experience. I am grateful to the UAF leadership for organizing such a camp and to the Italian side for inviting us to play friendlies with them.

It is important for us to conduct selection camps as often as possible. I am glad that the association's leadership shares my view. Work in this direction is already underway.  

— You mentioned there are areas to work on. What did you have in mind primarily?

— We need to radically change the preparation of our footballers from a very young age. There is a noticeable difference in individual class, intensity, and thinking speed. We need to move away from the concept of results at any cost and work on technical training for players.  

— Are there boys in this squad who are destined to become great masters?

— We generally have a lot of talented young players. The boys just need the right conditions for their development. I believe that a player who outgrows his age group should be promoted higher in the club. But there is also much that depends on the footballers themselves. They must extract the maximum from themselves not only during games but also at training sessions.

— Are there any plans for your team's next camp?

— April camps are definitely planned. During them, Ukraine's national team will play in the UEFA Development Tournament. However, I do not rule out that we might gather earlier.