The Ukrainian U-19 futsal team played four matches during the International Futsal Week Summer Cup in Poreč, Croatia, from June 24 to 29.

The Ukrainians lost successively to Portugal (0:4), Slovenia (5:4), the Netherlands (2:1) and the Czech Republic (3:2) and finished fourth in the tournament.  

The Ukrainian Futsal Association offers an interview with head coach Igor Moskovich, who commented on the team's performance in Poreč, evaluated future Euro-2025 opponents and talked about plans for the final phase of preparation for the continental forum.

— Is fourth place at Futsal Week Summer Cup a satisfactory result?

— After the draw, we understood that it would be very difficult against Portugal. We traveled for 20 hours. Even the boys looked like they lacked speed and freshness. The fact that we didn't have time to recover after such a long journey played a big role. That's why we faltered in some moments.

It was clear that Portugal is a team of higher class than us. But it was also clear that we arrived with an unoptimal lineup. Three players from Sokol and Illia Prykhodko are big losses, but considering that our lineup included seven 2008-2009 birth year players, we're satisfied with the result.

We're more or less on par with Italy, but Italy got luckier in the draw — it didn't end up in a group with Portugal or Spain. So I consider this result positive and also think that much was achieved through play. Overall, the boys managed well, I'm satisfied — both with the results and the game.

I was dissatisfied with some aspects, particularly set plays — they didn't work for us at this tournament, let's put it that way. In every match we conceded from set pieces, so defending during set plays is one big minus of this tournament.

Also, there were three goals against Slovenia when playing with four against five. We've already analyzed why this happened and I'm confident that in the future we'll improve this aspect. We've gone over the mistakes, explained them, so I think it won't happen at Euro.

— Regarding set plays, you can highlight the winning goal against the Netherlands, scored after a penalty kick.

— Yes, but that happened more due to incorrect positioning by opponents, so we were lucky. All three of our players were free and unmarked — it could have been passed to any one of them, and each could have scored. I think the goal is not our achievement, but rather a result of poor defensive setup by the Dutch. Although for us this was a plus as that goal turned out to be winning.

Regardless, working on set plays will receive special attention during preparation for the Euro-2025 final stage.

— Several players who were called up to the youth team for the first time showed themselves quite well at this tournament. Will you have a pleasant headache when forming the squad for Euro-2025?

— We often call debutants to the friendly tournament in Poreč. Once, Ilya Prykhodko appeared in the youth team and due to his good performance at training camp he made it into the final stage of the previous European Championship.

Likewise, Hayduchik showed himself well this time too, so we'll be considering who's stronger. Many couldn't demonstrate their best game due to physical readiness. Several players were simply not ready functionally and physically, but it was good that they showed character and played more on willpower than physical data.

We'll look at them, choose and try to send the best ones. Players who debuted for the youth team added a pleasant headache before Euro-2025. That's why we invited them so that they could see our standards and feel what it's like to be in the national team.

— Also, at Futsal Week, two other group opponents — Italy and Moldova — played. Did you watch their matches?

— Yes, of course, we watched them. We played friendly games with the Moldovans in February, and I can say right away that they've become stronger as they've pulled players from regular football. They have quite good physical data, are powerful, fast, and technical, playing one-on-one. It's clear that somewhere they lack futsal skills, but thanks to these players, the Moldovan national team has become stronger.

Italy has always been in order; two performers stood out strongly — a pillar and a left winger, all set plays went through them. A good team. Only it's a pity that we couldn't watch Portugal vs Italy match, there was no broadcast for some reason. I wanted to see this game because it's strange how strong Italians lost with such a big score (1:7). Nevertheless, we'll try to find the recording of this game.

In my opinion, Italy, Portugal and Ukraine are more or less on par. The Portuguese are more experienced, but given that we will have additional players joining us and everyone will go through pre-season training camps, I expect us to play them evenly.

— Can you tell us about the plans for preparing for Euro-2025, which is less than three months away?

— Yes, in mid-September we plan to gather for a few days in Uzhhorod and then go to two friendly matches with Spain. To play against such a team — it's just great. Although the Portuguese won Futsal Week Summer Cup, Spain looked stronger and more solid at this tournament. So preparing for Euro-2025 through games against such a strong opponent will be very good.

After Spain we'll head straight to Moldova for training camp.