The head coach of Ukraine's women's beach soccer team and the "Miria-2006" team, Yurii Klimenko, commented on his players' performances at two prestigious tournaments in Italy. 

From September 21 to 24, the women's national beach soccer team of Ukraine participated in the EuroLeague Superfinal in the Italian town of Alghero. According to the tournament results, the Ukrainians finished sixth, losing to the hosts in a match for fifth and sixth place (2:6).  

After that, also in Alghero, the women's Club World Cup-2023 was held, where Ukraine's "Miria-2006" team competed. Our team surprisingly won the prestigious tournament, defeating Brazilian Sao Pedro (5:3) in the final.

The head coach of both teams, Yurii Klimenko, summed up the performances of the women's national team and "Miria-2006" at the tournaments in Italy. 

"<Recently, fans expect only victories and top results from the women's national team. However, in Alghero, we did not play very well in EuroLeague, and I believe that an unsuccessful performance is linked to a lack of preparation time. The Ukrainian championship was not held, and the girls had not played on the sand for 80 days. This is a significant break. Due to Indonesian organizers' mishaps, we also didn't travel to the World Beach Games this year. 

As I mentioned earlier, due to this, the girls signed contracts with indoor soccer clubs and big football clubs; some of them did not train at all. It was very difficult to gather them, remind them about what we had previously achieved. We didn't conduct a single training session together in Kyiv either. And those one-and-a-half sessions that we organized in Italy certainly couldn't produce immediate results.

Although if we hadn't committed gross errors in the first match against the Netherlands and had taken advantage of our opportunities against Portugal, under certain circumstances, we could have reached the semifinals. There, Czechia would have awaited us, and it might have been within our reach to face Spain in the final. But things didn't go that way. Any matter requires careful preparation, especially when setting maximum goals for a team. So it turned out as it did, but EuroLeague served as a stimulus for this decisive victory in the Club World Cup.

Indeed, it was during the EuroLeague tournament that we established game connections and recalled our previous tactical ideas. Moreover, we brought in two girls from Poland who were very well prepared. We meticulously prepared for each match, analyzed opponents tactically since we faced completely different playing styles at this tournament, had to change tactics accordingly, and communicated a lot with the girls. And we psychologically rallied together, approached these competitions more confidently. And we won. 

Of course, on the path to victory, the final match is remembered most vividly. In it, we prepared the girls for facing Brazil's leaders, and they performed at full capacity. However, each match in the Club World Cup was challenging. For example, in the first game against the Netherlands, who had been reinforced by three Spaniards, it was very difficult. We won 2:1 but barely held on until the end of the confrontation. The next match, against a no less powerful Salvadorian team, we played much stronger, and then Japan's Lazo Apego awaited us.

I generally considered the Japanese to be favorites for the tournament. They have excellent game organization, which their goalkeeper manages well. And their leader, Sakie Kushiyama, is one of the best players in the world. She is very powerful and can kick through with both feet. But we managed to contain her, play closer to the goalkeeper, not allowing the Japanese to meticulously prepare their attacks. The girls prevailed, including thanks to frequent substitutions. With 10 strong performers in our lineup, we were able to impose our tempo on opponents and thus pulled out the match. And in the final, our machine couldn't be stopped.

Finally, I would like to thank our armed forces for allowing us to spend two weeks abroad and represent Ukraine honorably at both national and club levels. Also, I want to thank everyone who contributed to this important victory at a critical time. The girls — for their self-sacrifice and readiness in the most crucial matches of the tournament. Our fans — for always supporting us, and we feel their genuine support. Once again, big thanks to all! Glory to Ukraine!! As for our future plans — there is currently a break. We will be resting.»