Unai Melgosa on Morocco clash: "Opportunity to assess squad depth"

19.03.2024 10:00

Today, on March 18th, the Ukrainian U-21 team begins its preparations in Turkey ahead of its upcoming matches - a friendly against Morocco U-23 and an official Euro 2025 (U-21) qualification match against Azerbaijan.

On the eve of these matches, head coach Unai Melgosa spoke to the UAF press service.

- Are you concerned about personnel issues? Who couldn't be called up for various reasons? Is everyone healthy?

- We finalized the squad after determining which players would join the national team. We also considered potential candidates who are injured. Hopefully, everyone included in the final squad will be healthy.

- What conclusions did you draw from last year's match against Azerbaijan?

- It was a tough game. We tried but had difficulty finding a way to cause the Azerbaijanis the most problems. We knew they would defend, and that we needed to be ready for counterattacks. My conclusion is that we need to improve our game to have a quality match against Azerbaijan and continue our positive streak.

- Will anyone from the coaching staff attend the Azerbaijan vs. England match?

- We will work together all week in Antalya and play a friendly against Morocco U-23. Of course, we'll also watch the Azerbaijan vs. England match, but not live, rather through video.

- What information do you have about the Moroccans?

- The most important thing is that they changed their head coach. We know about the qualities inherent in this team, with creative players capable of one-on-one action. We'll see. But it will be a good test for us. As I always say, we need to be close to our best versions to perform well against such teams.

- In the match against Morocco, will you experiment with the lineup or rely on the main players?

This match is important, especially because we have a good opponent. And the players need to prove themselves. We want to give them that opportunity. We want to test as many performers as possible in this match, to assess the squad depth.

Ukraine U-21 squad:

Goalkeepers: Pavlo Isenko (Vorskla Poltava), Ruslan Neshcheret (Dynamo Kyiv), Yakiv Kinareykin (Dnipro-1 Dnipro).

Defenders: Illia Krupskyi (Vorskla Poltava), Kostiantyn Vivcharenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Arseniy Batagov (Zorya Luhansk), Artem Smolyakov (Polissya Zhytomyr), Vitaliy Roman, Bohdan Slyubyk (both Rukh Lviv), Volodymyr Salyuk (Chornomorets Odesa).

Midfielders: Yehor Yarmolyuk (Brentford, England), Yevhen Pavlyuk (Vorskla Poltava), Nazar Voloshyn, Anton Tsarenko (both Dynamo Kyiv), Valentyn Rubchynskyi, Oleh Ocheretko (both Dnipro-1 Dnipro), Oleksandr Yatsyk (Zorya Luhansk), Maksym Khlan (Lechia, Poland), Borys Krushynskyi (Polissya Zhytomyr), Illia Kvasnytsia (Rukh Lviv), Ivan Varfolomeyev (Slovan, Czech Republic), Maksym Bragaru (Chornomorets Odesa).

Forwards: Ihor Horbach (Zorya Luhansk), Ihor Krasnopir (Obolon Kyiv).

EURO 2025 (U-21) Qualifiers. Group F

September 7, 2023

Northern Ireland 0:1 Luxembourg

September 11, 2023

Luxembourg 0:3 England

September 12, 2023

Ukraine 1:0 Northern Ireland

Serbia 2:0 Azerbaijan

October 12, 2023

Azerbaijan 0:1 Northern Ireland

Luxembourg 0:3 Ukraine

England 9:1 Serbia

October 16, 2023

Ukraine 3:2 England

Northern Ireland 1:2 Serbia

October 17, 2023

Azerbaijan 3:2 Luxembourg

November 17, 2023

Ukraine 4:0 Luxembourg

November 18, 2023

Serbia 0:3 England

November 21, 2023

Ukraine 1:0 Azerbaijan

Serbia 2:0 Luxembourg

England 3:0 Northern Ireland

Standings

March 22, 2024

Luxembourg vs. Serbia

Azerbaijan vs. England

March 26, 2024

England vs. Luxembourg

Azerbaijan vs. Ukraine

Serbia vs. Northern Ireland

September 6, 2024

Luxembourg vs. Azerbaijan

Northern Ireland vs. England

Ukraine vs. Serbia

September 10, 2024

Northern Ireland vs. Ukraine

Azerbaijan vs. Serbia

October 11, 2024

England vs. Ukraine

October 12, 2024

Northern Ireland vs. Azerbaijan

October 15, 2024

Luxembourg vs. Northern Ireland

England vs. Azerbaijan

Serbia vs. Ukraine

Play-offs: November 11-19, 2024.

In the final stage of Euro 2025 (U-21), 16 teams will compete: Slovakia and 15 other national teams that will join based on the qualification results (nine group winners, three best teams among the second-place finishers, and three play-off winners among the six second-place finishers).