After the defeat to Poland in the elite round of Euro 2022 (U-17), coach Oleksandr Kuznetsov remains optimistic about the chances of advancing to the European Championship.

Head coach of Ukraine's youth team, Oleg Kuznetsov, commented on the outcome of the second match (2:3) in the elite round of Euro 2022 (U-17) against Poland.

"The game with Poland confirmed that it is impossible to bring a team together without sufficient practice and preparation," said Oleg Kuznetsov in an interview on the official website of the UAF. "I don't want to offend the Kosovo team, but Poland looked stronger. The Poles have a good team because they used almost all their opportunities. It was immediately clear that the opponents were in shape. However, we scored the third goal ourselves."

Despite this, with a 0-3 score, the boys showed well, started to turn the situation around, scoring two goals... There were also enough moments when they could have scored more, but perhaps it was not our day.

I hope that in two days before the decisive match against Italy, our players will be able to recover. Recalling the qualifying round, where we overcame Portugal in the decisive game, we believe that the boys will understand the importance of the situation now as well. We even joke with them that you can't avoid adventures. We will conduct more individual talks about readiness for the decisive confrontation. In any case, my wards have not lost their desire to qualify for the European Championship. I can confidently say that without a fight we won't give up. As long as there is a chance, we will fight for it.

Elite Round of Euro 2022 (U-17)

Group 6

April 20, 2022

Kosovo — Ukraine — 0:2 

Italy — Poland — 1:0 

April 23, 2022

Ukraine — Poland — 2:3 

Italy — Kosovo — 1:0

Tournament Table

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.

As a reminder, to qualify for the finals, it is necessary to finish first or second in the group (in the case of finishing second, you must have no worse results than Hungary, which finished second in Group 1 with one golden point and a goal difference of -2).

In case of equal points within the group, according to the regulations, personal meetings are taken into account first. Considering the situation, Ukraine's team needs to take points in the final match against Italy and under certain circumstances pay attention to the result of the Poland — Kosovo game.

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.

Two best 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.