The head coach of the Ukraine U-20 team, Dmitro Mykhaylenko, spoke about his plans for the training camp in Spain and shared his impressions from the draw results for the 2025 World Cup.

The Ukrainian youth national team (players born in or after 2005), which qualified for the 2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals, has started a training camp in Spain. During this camp, the blue and yellow team will play two friendly matches: on June 6 against Morocco U-20, and on June 10 against USA U-19.

At the beginning of the work, the head coach of Ukraine, Dmitro Mykhaylenko, answered questions from the official website of the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF).

"Mr. Dmitro, the squad you have chosen for this camp has not changed much compared to March. What does this say?"

— The team is mostly the same, but there are players who got injured and had to stay home, so we unfortunately made emergency replacements.

"What will be your goal for yourself and the team in Spain?"

— We will continue building the game that we want to see in the national team, working on principles. Of course, we also want to see different interaction options. There is quite serious competition in our half-back line.

"During this camp you will play against Morocco and USA teams. Are these good opponents?"

— Certainly. The USA and Morocco national teams are quality teams, so I am sure that friendly matches with these rivals will give us a lot of useful information.

"What do you think about the World Cup draw? Who is the favorite in our group?"

— On paper, Korea looks like the favorite. The players from this country consistently demonstrate a high level of quality.

"Do you know anything about Paraguay and Panama?"

⁠— Yes, I followed the South American Cup, watched one game by Paraguay and highlights from other matches. About the Panama team at the draw, I managed to talk with colleagues from the USA. Nevertheless, we need to start studying each opponent right now, preparing because all our rivals are quite dangerous.

Squad of Ukraine U-20

Goalkeepers: Ilya Voloshin ("Real", Spain), Denys Marchenko ("Obolon" Kyiv), Ilya Popovich ("Kisvarda", Hungary).

Defenders: Mykola Ogarkov ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Oleksandr Zhovtenko, Vitaliy Katrich (both — "Ingulets" Petrove), Oleksii Gusiev ("Metalist 1925" Kharkiv), Vladyslav Zaharchenko ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Maxim Melnychenko ("Polesia" Zhytomyr), Kyrilo Dityar ("Metalist" Kharkiv), Mykola Kirychok ("Karpaty" Lviv).

Half-backs: Roman Saleiko, Dmytro Kreminin (both — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Viktor Tsukanov ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Ivan Chaban, Artur Shah (both — "Karpaty" Lviv), Danyil Vashchenko ("Oleksandria"), Yaroslav Karaman ("Polesia" Zhytomyr), Ramik Gadzhiev ("Metalist 1925" Kharkiv), Bogdan Budko ("Alkmaar", Netherlands), Maxim Lien ("Fortuna", Germany), Danylo Krevsun ("Borussia" D, Germany).

Forwards: Vladyslav Gerych ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Artem Gusol ("Kolos" Kovalyovka).

Recall that the 2025 World Cup (U-20) will take place from September 27 to October 19 in five cities of Chile: Valparaiso, Santiago, Viña del Mar, Rancagua and Talca. Twenty-four teams from six confederations will participate. Initially, they will compete in six quartets. The top two teams from each group, as well as four teams that finish third, will advance to the round of 16. Then it proceeds according to the usual format.

Group compositions for the 2025 World Cup (U-20)

Group A: Chile, New Zealand, Japan, Egypt.

Group B: Korea, Ukraine, Paraguay, Panama.

Group C: Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, Spain.

Group D: Italy, Australia, Cuba, Argentina.

Group E: USA, New Caledonia, France, PAR.

Group F: Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Nigeria.