The national team of Ukraine held an official pre-match training session at the LKS Arena in Łódź. In the morning, after breakfast, Georgiy Bushchan and Taras Stepanenko were left behind due to injuries and will not be able to help the squad in the final June matches. After warmly saying goodbye to their teammates, the boys headed back to their clubs.

Photos by Oksana Vasylyova

Since the match against Armenia will start early (at 3 PM Central European Time), the pre-match training also began a bit earlier — at 5 PM (taking advantage of their right, the guests chose an earlier time).

Among the good news today is the return to the main group of Eduard Sobol, who already feels better after his illness. Among the bad news — Oleksandr Syrota felt unwell upon arrival in Poland yesterday: it turned out that he had a fever. After receiving necessary medical assistance, Oleksandr's condition improved, but today he still feels weak, so the team doctors recommended him to avoid physical exertion.

Photos by Oksana Vasylyova

Upon stepping onto the field at LKS Arena, the coach of the blue and yellow team did not recognize the stadium where he had led the youth national team U-20 to training before the 2019 World Cup final. And there is no reason for surprise: three years ago, there was only one central stand with five thousand seats here, while now — it's a full-fledged modern stadium that can accommodate eighteen thousand spectators.

Photos by Oksana Vasylyova

The stadium expansion cost nearly 30 million euros, so it's no surprise that this purely football complex impresses with comfortable stands for fans and well-thought-out infrastructure. By the way, the organizing team of the UAF, which prepared the arena for a match that has home status for Ukraine, decorated our team's locker room in the symbols of the national squad. So, the home atmosphere is created in the under-the-stands premises, while on the field it will be filled with emotions from Ukrainian and Polish fans, who are expected to make up 90% of the total number of spectators.

Photos by Oksana Vasylyova

Considering the minimal difference between match days in the League of Nations, the coaching staff has only one full training session that the team can conduct to prepare for the next game. Thus, today head coach Oleksandr Petrakov clearly told the boys that based on the results of this workout he will determine the starting lineup for the Armenia game.  

Photos by Oksana Vasylyova

After completing all the tasks set during the training process, the squad returned to the hotel. Today they need to go to bed early as tomorrow's trip to the stadium will be unusually early — right after 14 AM Kyiv time.

Alexander Glyvinsky, press secretary of Ukraine's national team

List of players in Ukraine's national team

Goalkeepers:  Andriy Pyatov («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Dmytro Rytsnik («Vorskla» Poltava), Andriy Lunin («Real Madrid», Spain).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Danylo Popov (all — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko, Valeriy Bondar (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko («Everton», England), Eduard Sobol («Club Brugge», Belgium), Taras Kachaраба («Slavia», Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Mikhail Mudryk («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Maksymenko (all — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Pichalok (SK «Dnipro-1»), Andriy Yarmolenko («West Ham United», England), Oleksandr Zinchenko («Manchester City», England), Ruslan Malinovskiy («Atalanta», Italy), Oleksandr Zubkov («Ferencváros», Hungary), Danylo Ignatenko («Bordeaux», France).

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk (SK «Dnipro-1»), Roman Yaremchuk («Benfica», Portugal), Danilo Sikan («Hansa Rostock», Germany).