The head coach of Ukraine's U-19 futsal team, Igor Moskovichov, spoke about his first months in the role, initial victories, and preparation for the Umag Nations Cup 2023.

As part of their preparation for Euro-2023 (U-19) qualification matches, Ukraine's U-19 futsal team will participate in the Umag Nations Cup 2023. The tournament will take place in Novigrad, Croatia. There, the blue and yellow team will play against their peers from France (January 17), Slovenia (January 19), and Italy (January 20). Ahead of the matches, the head coach Igor Moskovichov gave his comments to the press service of the Futsal Association of Ukraine.

— Igor Evgenyevich, how would you characterize your period of work after being appointed? How interesting is it to be in the position of head coach of a youth team?

— The specifics are completely different. It's noticeable that in a club, you have about two or three months to prepare for matches, while here we had only three to four training days at each camp. Now — it’s just one day. The difficulty lies in the fact that within this short period of time, you need to give the futsal players an understanding of what the coaching staff wants from them. Of course, we understand what needs to be done to fit everything into a relatively short period.

— In December, as coach, you managed to conduct two debut international friendly matches and secured two victories. We congratulate you on this achievement. How would you evaluate these encounters? Are you satisfied with the content of the game?

— The squad that played in the tournament in the Czech Republic was indeed assembled for the first time. The boys had only a few training sessions together. The match against the hosts turned out to be quite chaotic. The players were still getting used to working as a team with each other. Despite this, on the following day we faced Hungary's national team, which is more experienced than our previous opponent. There were certain concerns. However, the boys took into account the tips we gave them and played a good match. Our team gave the Hungarians very little chance to try for a positive result. I was pleased that literally within a day we managed to work on the mistakes properly. To be frank, there is still a long way to go in terms of cohesion. I am not entirely satisfied with the performance of some pillars of Ukraine's national team. We are still looking for candidates who can prove themselves.

— The national team will head to Umag Nations Cup without three participants from the U-19 Euro 2022, who were involved in a Vbet Extra League match. How difficult will it be to face future opponents without them?

— Unfortunately, Dmytro Skychyk, Maxim Malynovskyi, and Dmytro Dyachenko will not participate in the matches our team will play this week. Indeed, they form the face of the team. The boys have experience playing at the European Championship as well as in the Extra League. For the rest of the players, upcoming matches are an opportunity to demonstrate that they can replace the leaders and hold their own against peers from other countries.

— Tomorrow our team will start its journey at Umag Nations Cup. What are the main tasks ahead?

— The core of the national team is still being formed. We precisely call up new players to test them in training and game processes. Above all, we aim to instill our principles of play into the players that the coaching staff wants to see. Moreover, France, Slovenia, and Italy's teams are higher in level than, despite my respect for them, Czech Republic and Hungary. It is interesting to test ourselves against strong national teams. Of course, the team also needs game practice, and working on mutual understanding is very important. We will work on creating a more united and stronger collective.

— How would you evaluate future opponents — teams from France, Slovenia, and Italy?

We analyzed videos of French and Italian matches. We will have the opportunity to watch Slovenians during their match against France on January 18th. As for the teams we watched, I can note that they feature fast, aggressive players from a sporting perspective who are individually strong and technically skilled. The level of play — both individual and team-wise — is higher than in our previous opponents.

— In the Czech Republic, our national team was supported by Ukrainians living in Europe. Do you expect Ukrainian fans to support us in Croatia?

Yes, I am very grateful to Rivne supporters who actively supported our team. It was incredibly pleasant. As for Croatia, we don't know yet but hope that Ukrainians will come to support the youth national team. The matches will be interesting, so we invite all fans who can reach the arena in Novigrad.

Composition of Ukraine's U-19 Futsal Team

Goalkeepers — Ivan Belimov («Black Sea»), Konstantin Rafalskyi («Cardinal-RivneStandard»), Yurii Yamchuk («Bongo Futsal», Poland); field players — Vadym Tyutyrai («Cardinal-RivneStandard»), Dmytro Karmalita («Fortuna», Germany), Damian Zaporozhan («Hurricane»), Denis Snitsarenko (SkyUp Futsal), Roman Tatumiak («United Pomecia», Italy), Vitaliy Pantratii, Dmytro Rybitskyi (both — «Futsal Szczecin», Poland), Andriy Yelishev, Vladyslav Tkachenko (both — «Tim Lemborz», Poland), Dmytro Fedik («Levice», Slovakia), Nazarii Krukovskyy («Burinhosa», Portugal), Daniil Boldyjev («Phoenix»), Igor Peletsyk («Vikingay», Lithuania).

We remind you that on November 3, the draw for the preliminary and main rounds of Euro-2023 (U-19) futsal qualification took place. According to its results, Ukraine's youth national team was placed in Group 2 of the main round, where it will face Romania, Serbia, and the winner of Group V from the preliminary round (Montenegro, San Marino, Gibraltar). The mini-tournament will be hosted by Serbia.

The venue for the final tournament of Euro-2022/2023 among under-19 boys' futsal teams was determined to be Poreč (Croatia). In addition to hosts Croatia, seven other national teams will participate in the finals, which will become known after the second qualification round ends by March 26. The format of the final tournament remains the same: eight participants play in two groups of four teams each, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals.

The inaugural European Championship among under-19 boys' futsal teams took place in 2019 in Rijeka; the second edition was held in Hain in 2022 — both times (2019, 2022) Spain's team emerged as champions. The second championship was initially planned for 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine's national team participated in both final tournaments. In 2019, under Vitaliy Odegov's guidance, they secured third place in their group, and in 2022, they reached the semifinals.