"We want to make it to the Euros": Ukraine U-17 players discuss the tournament in Belgium

18.10.2024 12:00

The Ukraine U-17 team (players born no later than 2008) performed successfully in Belgium during the qualification round of EURO 2025 (U-17). Under the guidance of Yuriy Moroz, the team secured a place in the next stage of the qualifiers by finishing second in their group.

Forward Dmytro Zudin, who scored three goals in the tournament, and defender Yehor Onishchuk shared their impressions of the competition with the UAF official website.

"I enjoy scoring, but the most important thing is to contribute to the team," Zudin said. "Personal achievements take a back seat. The Ukraine team accomplished its goal of advancing to the next round, and that's what matters. It's just a pity that we couldn't achieve the desired result against Belgium and finish first in the group. A draw would have been the most logical outcome of that match, as reflected in the game statistics. Toward the end of the game, we perhaps lacked a bit of concentration and didn't block the decisive shot from our opponent. But that's history now. We need to learn from it and keep working.

The feelings at the beginning of the first match against Kosovo? Shock. But I believe we quickly got our heads back in the game. I managed to score, and perhaps that goal helped boost our confidence. The team understood that we could make a comeback.

After the tournament, the head coach congratulated the team on accomplishing its task and asked us not to rest on our laurels. In three weeks, we will start training in Croatia, where we will play two friendly matches against the local team. We need to prepare well for the elite round of the qualifiers, as we want to make it to the Euros."

"We are pleased that the Ukraine team was able to accomplish its main task in the qualification — advancing to the next round of Euro qualifying," Onishchuk said. "After the second match against Kazakhstan, we were overwhelmed with emotions. You don't achieve results like that every day. Nevertheless, there's a slight disappointment that we couldn't win the group after losing our last match to Belgium. We approached that game very seriously, but a momentary lapse in concentration led to a conceded goal. However, physically we held our ground and even outperformed our opponent at times. Perhaps we will meet the Belgians again and try to take revenge.

I was lucky to play in all the matches without substitutions, for which I can only thank the head coach for believing in me. I wanted to showcase all my best qualities. I hope I contributed to the team."

Ukraine U-17 Squad

Goalkeepers: Rostyslav Bahlay (Shakhtar Donetsk), Kyrylo Khadasevych (Wolfsburg, Germany), Yehor Krapivin (Espanyol, Spain).

Defenders: Nikita Kalyuzhnyi, Yaroslav Mylokost, Yehor Onishchuk (all from Shakhtar Donetsk), Arsen Zalypka, Dmytro Solomon (both from Rukh Lviv), Nikita Malnyk (Imolese, Italy), Oleksandr Tkachenko (Werder Bremen, Germany), Nazar Khlivnyuk (Fortuna Düsseldorf, Germany).

Midfielders: Pavlo Lyusin, Ivan Andreyko (both from Dynamo Kyiv), Artem Zubriy (Shakhtar Donetsk), Mukhammad Dzhurabaiev, Danylo Slyva (both from Rukh Lviv), Illia Kutia (Hajduk, Croatia), Mykola Petrovskyi (Stuttgart, Germany), Arseniy Shyshkevych (Rio Ave, Portugal).

Forwards: Dmytro Zudin (Hajduk, Croatia), Illia Menshykov (Austria Wien, Austria).

EURO 2025 (U-17). Round 1. Group 4

October 9, 2024

Kosovo — Ukraine — 2:4

Belgium — Kazakhstan — 3:1

October 12, 2024

Ukraine — Kazakhstan — 3:0

Belgium — Kosovo — 2:1

October 15, 2024

Ukraine - Belgium - 1:2

Kazakhstan - Kosovo - 4:4

Standings

The top two teams from each group advance to the second round of qualifiers. Following this, 28 teams will compete in seven groups in League A in spring 2025 for seven spots in the final tournament, to be held in Albania in the summer. The host team automatically qualifies, although they will still participate in the qualifiers.

The remaining teams in the second round will compete in League B, aiming for spots in League A of the first qualifying stage for EURO 2027 (U-19).

It's worth noting that EURO 2024/2025 (U-17) serves as UEFA's qualifying tournament for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup, featuring 48 teams in Qatar.