Yuriy Moroz: "The experience in Spain will be a valuable lesson for our young players"

04.10.2024 11:00

Yuriy Moroz, the head coach of Ukraine's U-16 team (players born in 2009 or later), summed up the team's performance at a recent international tournament.

The first-ever training camp for the Ukraine U-16 national team has concluded. The Blue and Yellows participated in an international tournament, facing their peers from England, France, and Israel. Unfortunately, our team lost all of their matches. The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) website asked head coach Yuriy Moroz to reflect on the camp results.

"The results of the tournament are disappointing," said Yuriy Moroz. "We can acknowledge that this was the team's first set of friendly matches, while our opponents have already played around ten games.

However, I was still dissatisfied with the players' performance. The boys seemed to try to follow the coaching staff's instructions, but we lost in terms of physical battles and lacked fighting spirit and character.

The main development happens at the club level, but we expect players who are called up to the national team not to rest on their laurels. This is just an opportunity. National team candidates need to work twice as hard, and their approach to training must be at a professional level. They need to be ready to compete equally with teams like England and France. This tournament highlighted our team's shortcomings.

That said, having worked with young players for many years, I am confident that the experience in Spain will serve as a valuable lesson for our young footballers. Many of these players will get another chance to wear the Blue and Yellow jersey, and we hope they will learn the right lessons."

U-16 Youth National Teams Tournament in Spain

26.09.2024

England — Ukraine — 3:0

France — Israel — 2:1

28.09.2024

Ukraine — France — 0:8

England — Israel — 2:1

30.09.2024

Ukraine — Israel — 1:2

England — France — 1:0

Standings