The head coach of the Ukraine national team, Serhiy Rebrov, answered journalists' questions at a press conference after the match against France in Wrocław (0:2) for the 2026 World Cup qualifier.

— Serhiy Stanislavovych, the second half of Ukraine's performance was much better than the first. How did you manage to improve the game at halftime?

— In the first half we also played quite well, although mostly defending. We reached the final third but there were almost no shots and no finishing. In the second half we added more in this aspect. But France was already playing to the score and pressing less than before halftime. They gave us more control of the ball. We managed to create several opportunities, but in football it's important to finish off attacks. When you're playing against such a strong team and don't convert your chances, you lose.

— Ivan Kaliuzhnyi was the only midfielder who played the entire match. What was the idea behind not changing him even after going down 0-2? And if he's unavailable for Azerbaijan, who could step in on his position?

— I don't consider Kaliuzhnyi to be our only player in this position. There is Ocheretnyk, who plays in this role at Shakhtar.

— Before the match you called on Ukrainian fans in Wrocław to support the team. How do you now evaluate their support?

— You saw it all yourself, I am very grateful to the supporters. They really created an atmosphere that the players felt. Very thankful to everyone who came today. This inspiration was passed on to the players. We played against France's national team and it was tough. But the players gave everything thanks to this support.

We have played in Wrocław four times now, and every time the support here is incredible.

— Are you satisfied with the performance of the Yarmoluk-Sudakov pairing?

— Of course, you saw that we played in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I am pleased with all players, even though we didn't create many opportunities. But everyone worked on defense — Sudakov, Kaliuzhnyi, and Yarmoluk. Egors was substituted because I've seen many Brentford matches where he's also taken off at the end of games: he always does a lot of work. He is very important for our next game.

Recall that Ukraine will play their next 2026 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in Baku on September 9 (kickoff at 19:00 Kyiv time).