Today in the Polish town of Bielsko-Biała, the preparation for Ukraine's youth national team begins ahead of the Euro-2023 (U-21) qualification matches against Slovakia.

The matches will take place on September 23rd and 27th. The first match our youth national team will play away — 95 kilometers from their base, in Jelínek, at the "Pod Dubňom" stadium (kickoff at 19:00 Kyiv time). And the nominal home game will be played four days later in Bielsko-Biała on the Municipal Stadium (6:30 PM).

The coaching staff arrived at the location on Thursday, September 15th. Players from domestic clubs will join the camp on the 16th, while overseas players will arrive on the 19th.

— Rusan Petrovich, the first and most important question is: are everyone healthy?

— Unfortunately, we have two significant losses. This concerns goalkeeper Ruslan Nescheret and forward Vladyslav Supryha. These are our main players who are very useful both on and off the field.

We are indeed concerned that we will start our preparation without two of our main goalkeepers — Nescheret and Trubin, whom Oleksandr Petракov has called up to the national team. Of course, we rely on Kiryl Fesyun, who has been with us for a long time, but he hasn't had any playing practice at Kolos. We have called up two newcomers — already experienced Dmitry Matsapura and young Yakiv Kinaraykin, but this will be their first call-up to the national team.  However, I don't see any reason to panic, and neither does our goalkeeper coach Vitaliy Reva.

— In other words, is the squad mentally prepared for decisive qualification matches of Euro-2023?

— The main thing is that we are gathering with positive news from the front. I never tire of thanking and praying to the Armed Forces. This thought occupies our entire "youth" team, I am sure of it.

We have thoroughly studied Slovakia's national team by watching more than 10 of their matches. There is a lot of information, so it is important to highlight the most crucial points. We are currently focusing on that.

However, our top priority is to get back to our principles as quickly as possible. We never hide the fact that, considering certain stylistic and tactical peculiarities of the opponent's game, we build our football and do not adjust to anyone.

I have never pressured my players with results — each one can confirm this. I always emphasized that I would take responsibility for every loss, while you all must share responsibility with me for every match.

There will be no pressure this time either. It is unnecessary because the boys are so close to their goal that they don't need extra motivation. But I will remind them that they dream not just of going to Euro, but also of showing meaningful football there. Don't forget about the chance to qualify for the Olympics.

— In Poland you start working with an incomplete squad — without overseas players. Won't this be a problem?

— No, everything is fine. I hope that from the 19th our squad will be complete. You know, when we started our journey, we had only two players playing abroad. Now there are seven.

Ukraine's youth national team roster

Goalkeepers: Dmytro Matsapura ("Zorya" Luhansk), Kiryl Fesyun ("Kolos" Kovalivka), Yakiv Kinaraykin ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk).

Defenders: Arseniy Batagov ("Zorya" Luhansk), Anton Bol, Konstantin Vycharenko, Oleksandr Syrota (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Oleksandr Drambaev ("Zulte Waregem", Belgium), Dmytro Kapinus ("Metalist 1925" Kharkiv), Oleksiy Sich ("Kortrijk", Belgium), Maxim Talovoyev ("Slovak", Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Artem Bondarenko, Dmytro Kryskiv, Oleg Ocheretko, Georgiy Sudakov (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Volodymyr Bratchuk, Mykola Mikhaylenko (both — "Zorya" Luhansk), Eldar Kuliyev ("Minai" Uzhhorod), Oleksandr Nazarenko ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Ivan Zhelizko ("Valmiera", Latvia), Yegor Yamoluk ("Brentford", England).

Forwards: Vladyslav Vanat ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Bohdan Vyunnik ("Zurich", Switzerland), Mykola Kucharievych ("Hibernian", Scotland), Danylo Sykan ("Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Reserves: Valentin Rubchynskyi ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Eduard Kozik ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Roman Didyk, Marko Sapuga (both —  "Rukh" Lviv), Oleksiy Horin ("Minai", Uzhhorod), Danyil Alefrenko, Maxim Khlyan (both — "Zorya" Luhansk), Maxim Bragaru ("Chornomorets" Odesa), Oleksiy Kashchuk ("Sabah", Azerbaijan), Viktor Voloshyn ("Oleksandria").

Euro-2023 (U-21). Qualification. Play-off

September 23, 2022/September 27, 2022

Croatia — Denmark

Slovakia — Ukraine

Ireland — Israel

Iceland — Czech Republic

Final tournament: june/july 2023.

Participants of the final tournament: Romania, Georgia, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, four play-off winners.

Matches of the 16-team tournament will be held on four stadiums in Romania (two — in Cluj-Napoca and two — in Bucharest) and four in Georgia (in Batumi, Poti and two — in Tbilisi). The opening match will take place in Romania, while the final will be held in Georgia.