Today, on November 4th, the Ukraine U-16 national team (players born in 2010) conducted their first of two planned friendlies against local peers during a training camp in Italy.

The match was highly competitive. The Italians took an early lead with a dangerous shot over the crossbar within the first minute, and shortly after, Sychov saved his teammates from a one-on-one situation with the opposing forward. Unfortunately, Sychov made a mistake soon after, and Eghearevba did not miss the opportunity to score against our goalkeeper.

Photo courtesy of UAF press service

The Ukrainians quickly equalized. On the 18th minute, Dziurenets passed from the right flank, and Bodak played a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and scored from close range. Later, Bodak had an opportunity to score again but the Italian keeper reacted well to his shot into the far corner.

Only the hosts were scoring before halftime. First, Bernamonte scored with a long-range shot past the defenders' legs and our goalkeeper, and shortly after, Scaglione capitalized on an out ball, playing his body in a tight angle to score from a sharp angle — 3:1.

In the second half, Volodymyr Samborsky made two substitutions. Gonchenko reduced the deficit with a quick counterattack on the 48th minute. However, the Italians quickly responded by punishing us for poor play in our own penalty area. In the second half, Galdin was called upon to save four shots within four minutes — both penalties were converted by Pipito. On the 77th minute, Salvaye sealed the result with a final score of 6:2 in favor of Italy.

The second friendly match between the youth teams of Italy and Ukraine will take place on November 6 (kickoff at 12:00 Kyiv time).

Friendship Match

Italy (U-16) — Ukraine (U-16) — 6:2 (3:1)

Goals: Eghearevba (11), Bernamonte (23), Scaglione (29), Pipito (52, from penalty, 56, from penalty), Salvaye (77)  — Bodak (18), Gonchenko (48).

Italy (U-16): Kostante, Dattilo (Furoni, 61), Samà (Salvaye, 72), D'Amonte (c) (Sei, 80), Zito (Elena, 80), Bernamonte (Defochinna, 72), Bladina (Norelli, 61), Eghearevba (Rolando, 61), Scaglione (Barbone, 80), Pipito (Rastello, 72), Ardeni (Mantovani, 80).

Coach: Manuel Pasquale. 

Ukraine (U-16): Sychov (Galdin, 46), Misura (Abramovich, 63), Kislyanka (Begmetiuk, 71), Birladyanu, Dziurenets (Osymuhin, 63), Reznik, Donik (Gonchenko, 46), Hordeiev (Rybak, 71), Bodak (c) (Martyniuk, 63), Fedushko (Serdyukovskiy, 63), Falchovsky (Mazur, 53).

Coach: Volodymyr Samborsky.

Yellow cards: Misura (55), Birladyanu (87).