For the head coach of Ukraine, Oleg Kuznetsov, the biggest problem was that his players had virtually no game practice since last fall. This showed in their debut match. There was a lot of chaos in our team's actions, as there was with the opponent's. However, the ball was mostly in possession of the Ukrainian national team, while the Kosovars tried to counterattack. It is worth noting that the pitch was not of the best quality, and there was plenty of rough play, so medical staff had to run onto the field several times.

Only in the second half of the first period did the blue-and-yellow team's advantage start to take shape, but the ball refused to go into the net.

The debut of the second half continued where the first 45 minutes left off. Within two minutes, Firman and Kreminchanyin's shots were saved by the opposing goalkeeper. In turn, Kosovo's national team also responded dangerously. On the 55th minute, Kaitazi hit the crossbar. On the 73rd minute, Kravets saved his goal from Bllaka's shot, but two minutes later Kreminchanyin relieved some tension by scoring after receiving a pass from Derkach. 0:1.

Seven minutes before the end of regular time, Kreminchanyin could have settled the matter, but his shot was parried away for a corner kick by Kosovo's goalkeeper. However, what Kreminchanyin failed to do, Gusev accomplished on the 90+1 minute mark. 0:2. By the way, Kreminchanyin provided the assist for the winning goal. The victory allows blue-and-yellow to prepare in good spirits for their next match against Poland, which will take place on April 23.

Elite Round of Euro-2022 (U-17)

Group 6

April 20, 2022

Kosovo (U-17) — Ukraine (U-17) — 0:2 (0:0)

Goals: Kreminchanyin (75), Gusev (90+1).

Kosovo (U-17): Gikay, Marku (Loka, 88), Silaj, Zeghairi, Bayraktari (Ahmeti, 88), Bashota (Muji, 82), Fazlija, Yashhari (c), Kaitazi, Krasniki, Merlaki (Blaka, 72).

Ukraine (U-17): Kravets, Gusev, Sizonyuk, Balaba, Bilkon', Vaselec', Yanovich (c), Matkewich (Bac, 90+2), Kreminchanyin, Firman (Nagrudnyi, 76), Zen' (Derkach, 68).

Yellow cards: Fazlija (81), Kaitazi (88) — Matkewich (79).

Italy — Poland — 1:0 (0:0)

April 23, 2022

Ukraine — Poland  13.00

Italy — Kosovo  16.00

April 26, 2022

Ukraine — Italy  16.00

Poland — Kosovo  16.00

The final tournament will take place from May 16 to June 1 in Israel.

If Oleg Kuznetsov's wards overcome the elite round of qualification with first place in group 6, they will play in Group A alongside Israel, Germany, and Luxembourg. If Ukraine secure second place in their quartet of qualifications, they could end up in Group B against France, Netherlands, and Bulgaria. However, for this to happen, they would need to show a better result than Hungary, which secured the second spot in group 1 with one golden point and a goal difference of -2.

Final Tournament Euro-2022 (U-17)

Group A: Israel, Germany, winner of group 6, Luxembourg.

Group B: France, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary or second team from group 6.

Group C: Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Belgium.

Group D: Denmark, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals.

Group Stage

Round 1: May 16/17.

Round 2: May 19/20.

Round 3: May 22/23.

Quarter-finals: May 25/26.

Semifinals: May 29.

Final: June 1.