Nataliya Ihnatovych: "There was practically no chance to remain in the elite"
Today, the women's national team of Ukraine WU-19 returned from Czechia after an unsuccessful performance in Round 2 of the Euro 2024 (WU-19) qualifiers, dropping down a tier.
Nataliya Ihnatovych, the head coach of the women's youth national team of Ukraine, evaluated her team's performance in a comment on the official website of the Ukrainian Association of Football:
- In the best-case scenario, we could have only hoped for third place, as the French and Norwegian teams were significantly stronger. Therefore, it was desirable not to lose to the French team at the start and at least not concede to the Czechs in the second round, hoping to surpass them in additional indicators.
- But this strategic plan didn't work out...
- In the match against the French, despite defending with all our might, we conceded only twice, but against the hosts, we simply couldn't hold out, as they scored the decisive goal at the end. Although to be fair, the Czechs acted much sharper and deserved the victory. Challenging the Norwegians was unrealistic.
- Was the Ukrainian team competing with the optimal lineup?
- Yes, all the girls I wanted to see on the team came. However, unfortunately, their level of preparation was insufficient to count on continuing our presence in League A.
- How do you explain this?
- Those two days we had for preparation turned out to be insufficient. It's not surprising that the opponents had a noticeable advantage in physical condition, and we had problems transitioning to the opponent's half of the field. Therefore, we didn't even get to scoring opportunities...
- What's next?
- We'll soon find out about our opponents in League B. Of course, we'll make every effort not to linger there.
Euro 2024 (WU-19). Qualifiers. Round 2. Group A4
April 3, 2024
France vs. Ukraine - 2:0
Norway vs. Czechia - 4:0
April 6, 2024
France vs. Norway - 1:0
Czechia vs. Ukraine - 1:0
April 9, 2024
Czechia vs. France - 0:5
Ukraine vs. Norway - 0:5
Standings:
|
|
Team |
M |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
P |
|
1 |
France |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8—0 |
9 |
|
2 |
Norway |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
9—1 |
6 |
|
3 |
Czechia |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1—9 |
3 |
|
4 |
Ukraine |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0—8 |
0 |
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