Mykola Kostenko: "If we take the tournament on Sardinia separately — we did everything we could with what we had"
The Ukrainian beach soccer team secured fifth place in the Euroleague-2022 and earned a spot in the 2023 European Games.
Photo from beachsoccer.com
From September 8 to 11, our team participated in the second stage of EuroLeague-2022 in Cagliari, Italy. Overall, at the group stage, blue-and-yellow conceded to Spain (1:4) and Italy (3:5), but won against Azerbaijan (2:1) and Germany (3:2). As a result, our team finished third in Group B's standings and earned the opportunity to compete for fifth-eighth place.
In the small semi-final, Ukrainians defeated France (10:5), while in the match for fifth-sixth place they beat Azerbaijan (6:2). As a result, our boys finished fifth at EuroLeague-2022 and secured a ticket to the 2023 European Games in Krakow.
The head coach of Ukraine's beach soccer team, Mykola Kostenko, summed up their performance in EuroLeague-2022 as follows: "If we take Sardinia tournament separately — we did everything possible. Four matches — four wins. The national team qualified for the European Games, so in Cagliari we achieved an optimal result.
Photo beachsoccer.com
However, if we consider the entire EuroLeague tournament as a whole, it can be said that the calendar was somewhat inconvenient for us. At the beginning of the season, due to the war in Ukraine, we did not have the opportunity to conduct fundamental preparation as we did in previous seasons. The domestic championship had just started, and the boys were still not in game shape, nor were they in their best physical condition.
Therefore, the first two stages of EuroLeague, against Spain and Italy in Nazaré, Portugal, were unsuccessful for us. It was difficult to compete with Spain because this team was in much better physical and playing form. And with Italy, we lacked a bit of game rhythm. If we had managed to play at least seven or eight rounds of the Kiev or Ukrainian championship before that, I believe the result would have been different. Italy is a team that suits us well; we could have made it to the semi-finals and competed for medals.
Despite this, considering the very difficult situation in our country, one can say that the overall result was more positive than negative. Therefore, I am satisfied with our team's performance at this year's EuroLeague."
Beach Soccer EuroLeague 2022. Men. Division A
July 2. Round 1. Spain — Ukraine — 4:1
July 3. Round 2. Italy — Ukraine — 5:3
September 8. Round 3. Ukraine — Azerbaijan — 2:1
September 9. Round 4. Ukraine — Germany — 3:2
Final Standings
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Dif | Points | ||
| 1 | Spain | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 9 | 0 | +13 | 12 |
| 2 | Italy | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 13 | 0 | +12 | 9 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 0 | -3 | 6 |
| 4 | Azerbaijan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 20 | 0 | -6 | 3 |
| 5 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 27 | 0 | -16 | 0 |
September 10. Matches for 5—8 places. Semi-final. Ukraine — France — 10:5
September 11. Matches for 5—8 places. Final. Ukraine — Azerbaijan — 6:2
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