This Saturday, November 15, the Ukrainian national team will play an away match against Georgia in Group B1 of the 2024/2025 Nations League, and next Tuesday, November 19, Ukraine will play its final match of the season against Albania. The matches will be key, as they will decide the fate of which league Ukraine will continue to play in. UNN decided to gather the latest news from the national team camp before the important matches.
Details
The players of the national team playing in the domestic championship have already left for Belek, Turkey, where they will hold the main stage of training. The foreign players will arrive immediately in Turkey, where the team will prepare until November 15, 2, when they will go to Batumi.
Збірна України розпочала підготовку до двох заключних матчів Ліги націй11.11.24, 16:09
In early November, Serhii Rebrov announced the team for the final matches of the Nations League against Georgia and Albania. Yegor Yarmolyuk from English club Brentford received his debut call-up, and for the second time in a row, Polissia's wing midfielders Oleksandr Nazarenko and Oleksiy Tsutsulyak Oleksandr Nazarenko and Oleksiy Hutsulyak and Oleksandriya midfielder Ivan Kalyuzhnyi.
However, recently it became knownthat the Wenger of the Spanish "Girona" Viktor Tsygankov will miss the national team matches for the second time in a row due to injury. Prior to that, Tsygankov was eliminated from the application for the October matches of the Nations League due to an injury that he suffered in the Champions League game against the Dutch "Feyenoord".
Instead of Tsygankov, Rebrov called up Dynamo Kyiv captain Vitaliy Buyalsky, who was on the reserve list. However, at a press conference after Dynamo's 2-1 victory over Polissia, Buyalsky said he had a minor injury. Later, the UAF confirmedthat the midfielder would not be able to help the national team.
Also, the goalkeeper of Real Madrid Andrey Lunin will not help the national team due to family circumstances. Instead of Lenin from the reserve list , Dmitry Reznik, the goalkeeper of Shakhtar Donetsk, was called up.
In addition, there were rumors that Roma forward Artem Dovbyk might not take part in the national team's November matches. According to media reports, after the last match with Roma, the striker complained of discomfort in his knee, which had bothered him several times this season. However, an MRI scan showed no damage.
But the UAF reported that Dovbyk had joined the national team's training camp in Turkey.
According to the Italian press, yesterday Rebrov's team held its first training session without Dovbyk working with the general group. It is noted that today the team's doctors will examine the forward and, together with their Roman colleagues, will decide whether to keep Dovbyk or release him back to Italy.
The day before, head coach Serhii Rebrov spoke in an interview with the Pryamaya Chervona YouTube channel about the condition of the national team players, the players' motivation and shared why he did not call up Andrii Yarmolenko to the national team.
"The story with Yarmolenko shows that there are enough players in his position who have shown and are showing a high level. I was interested to see the same Hutsulyak, although we had called him up before, but he only got practice in the match against Bosnia. The same applies to Nazarenko, who at that time scored enough goals and showed a very mature game in the national championship, so I was very interested in inviting these players, but not as the fourth player for the position, but to give them a chance," Rebrov said.
The coach also spoke about the ban of foreign clubs on the departure of foreign national team players to Ukraine.
"I would love to, but our legionnaires are not allowed to go to Ukraine by the clubs. Unfortunately, this is impossible. I'm sure all the players want to play in Ukraine for their fans. When you play in Ukraine, it is a completely different matter and emotions. We hope to return as soon as possible. It is very important for our people. We all understand this, and we are even trying to do something, but it is currently impossible," Rebrov said.
Rebrov also singled out several national team players, including Ivan Kalyuzhnyi, who has only recently received a call-up to the national team.
"Ivan Kalyuzhny is a real discovery. He shows a very good game and desire. His work is an example for other players. This is an example of the balance that every player should have. That's why Ivan really showed what he wants and can do," the coach said.
The head coach also shared his opinion on the performance of Bournemouth center back Ilya Zabarny.
"I really like his attitude to football. He is a professional, understands how to prepare for games, and is focused on every game. Understands that where he is now, at Bournemouth, is not the final stop. He is progressing, he wants to progress further, get into a bigger club, and for this, which is very important, you need to work. He does it in the national team and at Bournemouth now, " said the coach.
Debutant of the national team Igor Yarmolyuk, who was called up from the English "Brentford", in a comment to the UAF shared his impressions of the call-up.
"Rebrov greeted me and told me not to get nervous, because everything would be fine. I liked the training session. Everyone is friendly, we worked hard, and we are going to the hotel with a good result. Every person who is in the national team will have jitters at the first training session, at least," Yarmolyuk said.
Yarmolyuk also shared that it would be a success for him to make his debut for the national team and win 2 games.
Addendum
On Saturday, November 16, the Ukrainian national football team will play away against Georgia in the 5th round of the UEFA Nations League Division B. The match will take place at the Batumi Arena in the Georgian city of the same name. The match starts at 19:00 Kyiv time.
Ukraine's national team is currently in last place in the group, with 4 points thanks to a victory over Georgia and a draw with the Czech Republic.
Theoretically, Ukraine can take any other place in the group. If our team takes first place, it will qualify for League A. If it takes second place, it will play in the butt matches for promotion to League A with the third-place team from League A. The third place will play head-to-head matches to retain their place in League B with the team that took second place in League C.
The last place will demote Ukraine to League C.