In the morning, the sky over western Poland was covered with clouds, and a light rain quickly turned into a downpour, with temperatures dropping to seven degrees Celsius. At that moment, the prospect of working outdoors did not appeal.

However, there was no time for blue-and-yellow to complain about this — in the morning, the teams had theoretical training dedicated to analyzing the match against Bosnia. The coaching staff had plenty to say to the players, pointing out calculations and emphasizing elements of play that needed improvement.

Photos by Andriy Yushchak

As is known, those who work have their affairs go well. After lunch, the rain initially weakened, and by 16:45 when the squad came out for training, it had stopped completely. Thus, the evening session was held on a damp field at +5°C, but without water or puddles. Another quality characteristic of good conditions for preparation: the drainage system easily handled the light showers.

Photos by Andriy Yushchak

The coaching staff continued working with two groups today. In the match against Bosnia, which took place on a difficult field and was full of individual battles, players performed a large volume of functional work that affected their physical state. Therefore, the starting lineup for the playoff semifinal game had recovery training today. After running, the fitness trainer Vitaliy Kuliba offered footballers a complex set of exercises to rehabilitate muscles.

Photos by Andriy Yushchak

At the same time, the rest of the players, after warming up and ball possession work, moved on to game series. Today, the coaching staff constantly changed tasks for the performers, enriching the work with quick movements and finishing shots. The team actively worked on actions in attack. For the first time at this March training camp, Viktor Tsygankov participated in training with the main group. Our half-back played through all of the session with his teammates.

Tomorrow blue-and-yellow will continue preparing for the match in Opole.

Ukraine National Team Roster

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Anatoliy Trubin ("Benfica" Lisbon, Portugal), Andriy Lunin ("Real" Madrid, Spain).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavaev, Danylo Popov, Oleksandr Timchik (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko, Yurym Konoplya, Valeri Bondar (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Bohdan Mykhaylichenko ("Polesye" Zhytomyr), Vitaliy Mykolenko ("Everton" Liverpool, England), Illia Zabarny ("Bournemouth", England), Maksym Talaurov (LASK Linz, Austria).

Midfielders: Oleksandr Zubkov, Georgiy Sudakov (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Mykola Shaparenko, Volodymyr Brazyko (both — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Oleksandr Pichalenko, Oleksii Hushchyllyak (both — SK "Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Oleksandr Zinchenko ("Arsenal" London, England), Viktor Tsygankov ("Girona", Spain), Mykhailo Mudryk ("Chelsea" London, England), Serhiy Sydorchuk ("Waasland-Beveren", Belgium), Ruslan Malinovskyi ("Genoa" Genoa, Italy).

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk ("Girona", Spain), Roman Yaremchuk ("Valencia", Spain), Danylo Sikan ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Vladyslav Vanat ("Dynamo" Kyiv).

Reserve List: Dmytro Riznyk, Yegor Nazarina (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Oleksandr Hlyvinskyi, press secretary of the national team