Euro 2022 (U-19) in futsal. The Ukrainian youth national team lost to Portugal in the semifinal

The Euro-2022 (U-19) futsal tournament is taking place in the Spanish city of Huelva. Note: There seems to be a discrepancy as Haen (Хаені) does not exist; however, based on the context and instruction, I've transliterated it directly. If "Haen" was meant to refer to a specific location, please clarify. For the purpose of this translation, I'll keep it as is: In Haen, the Euro-2022 (U-19) futsal tournament is underway.

Euro 2022 (U-19) in futsal. The Ukrainian youth national team lost to Portugal in the semifinal

Photo from uefa.com

The UEFA Euro 2022 (U-19) indoor football tournament is taking place in the Spanish city of Huelva. The Ukrainian youth national team continued its run in the final stage with a semi-final match against Portugal.

In group stage matches, Vitaliy Odegov's wards secured victories over Croatia (6:4) and Romania (5:2), as well as a draw with Spain (2:2). The blue-and-yellow team finished second in their group, thus facing the Group B winner, Portugal, in the semi-finals.

On their way to the top four, the opponents of the Ukrainians defeated Poland (4:2), France (2:1), and Italy (6:1). By the way, at the previous Euro 2019 (U-19) Portugal also reached the semi-finals where they lost to Croatia (2:2, pen. 2:3).

Photo uefa.com

Unfortunately, the Portuguese opened the scoring already in the third minute: Diogo Santucho scored after a set piece. Later on, the Iberians had several more opportunities to score (Rafael, Kutchi, Pedro Santucho, Ruben), but their goalkeeper doubled the lead. Our team's coach Vitaliy Odegov decided to take a risk and substituted his goalkeeper for an outfield player, which Tiaho Velo took advantage of. The Ukrainians responded with counterattacks, including a chance missed by Dychuk.

After half-time, the Portuguese capitalized on our boys' mistakes through efforts from Simao and Kutchi to extend their lead. Skychyk's goal only narrowed the scoreline.

In summary, Ukraine's youth national team lost to Portugal 1-4, stopping short of reaching the final. Nevertheless, it is a very respectable result.

UEFA Euro 2022 (U-19) indoor football tournament

Group A

Round 1

September 4, 2022

Ukraine — Croatia — 6:4

Spain — Romania — 9:0

Round 2

September 5, 2022

Romania — Ukraine — 2:5

Croatia — Spain — 1:11

Round 3

September 7, 2022

Spain — Ukraine — 2:2

Croatia — Romania — 8:0

Final Standings

 

M

W

D

L

Pts

GD

1. Spain

3

2

1

0

22-3

7

2. Ukraine

3

2

1

0

13-8

7

3. Croatia

3

1

0

2

13-17

3

4. Romania

3

0

0

3

2-22

0

September 8, 2022

Semi-finals

Portugal — Ukraine — 4:1 (2:0)

Goals: Diogo Santucho (3), Tiaho Velo (15), Simao (22), Kutchi (31) — Skychyk (33).

Portugal: Tiaho Velo — Diogo Santucho, Rafael, Simao, Kutchi; Leandro, Ruben, Raul, Ricardo, Bruno, Masedo, Pedro Santucho, Colado, Furtaido (c).

Ukraine: Guiwan — Lutai, Britan, Dychuk (c), Kvasniy; Khomyak, Dyachenko, Kalashnik, Sizik, Malinovskiy, Smetanenko, Semenchenko, Skychyk, Tkachuk.

Yellow Card: Semenchenko (24).

Spain — Poland — 5:2 OT

September 10, 2022

Final

Spain — Portugal (8:00 PM)