Ukraine - Albania: post-match comments, Sych's debut, previous rivals
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine defeated Albania 2-1 in the final match of the Nations League. Goals by Zinchenko and Yaremchuk early in the game brought the victory and second place in the group, which gives the right to play in the playoffs.
Yesterday, the national team of Ukraine narrowly defeated the Albanian national team in the final 6th round of the 2020-2025 Nations League. This victory allowed Ukraine to overtake the national teams of Albania and Georgia in the standings, which allowed the Ukrainian team to take second place in the group, which allows them to play in the playoffs for the exit to League A, with the team that took third place in League A, reports UNN.
Details
Preliminarily, Ukraine's rivals for promotion may be the national teams of Belgium, Scotland, Hungary and Serbia. The playoff draw will take place on November 22 (starting at 13:00 Kyiv time) in Nyon, Switzerland. The matches are scheduled for March 20 and 23, 2025.
Ukraine scored against Albania in the 4th minute of the match. Vitaliy Mykolenko went down the flank, passed to Roman Yaremchuk, who played with Georgiy Sudakov, and received a pass back. The forward shot on goal, but the ball hit the Albanian defender, but the leather successfully flew to the foot of Oleksandr Zinchenko, who scored exactly in the corner. After scoring the goal, which became Zinchenko's 10th, the footballer showed off a T-shirt with the number “1000”.
The moment with the T-shirt? It was an initiative of the entire team, because we realize what a day it is today. Our heroes have been defending our country for 1000 days, 1000 days of unbreakable Ukraine. I can't describe the feelings I have inside me. I can't imagine, even when I'm in England, how hard it is for our people all the time. I hope that the peaceful sky will come soon enough. The game. The result came first and we achieved it, we will fight for the A League. Of course, we had a lot of responsibility, first of all because of the game against Georgia. We felt the pressure, but the main thing is that we won
Within 3 minutes Roman Yaremchuk scored his 17th goal for the national team, after Yukhym Konoplya's header was cleared off the line.
We started the game quite actively, played our football and forced Albania to make mistakes. I can't say that Albania wasn't determined, no. It was us who demonstrated that we have a completely different level. This made us play well, and we were able to win today
Head coach Serhiy Rebrov said after the match that the game was very hard.
“We had a very tough group, all the teams played at Euro 2024. I'm grateful to the players for making it to the playoffs, it was very difficult. The Albanian national team, with the support of the fans, showed its strength in the second half.
It is very good that we kept this score. We had a very even group, all the teams were of a high level. That's why we fought until the last round. I don't think all our failures were due to the game.
It was an equal fight, even the first match against Albania. Both we and the opponent had their moments. It is very important that today the guys came out for the decisive game with a completely different attitude and showed our strength,” said Rebrov.
In the middle of the first half, right back Yukhym Konoplya landed badly on his leg, but was able to continue playing after being treated by doctors. But in the 76th minute, Rebrov replaced Konoplya. Rukh defender Oleksiy Sych made his debut instead of the Shakhtar Donetsk defender.
If you saw, today Oleksiy Sych, who was not preparing to play for the national team, came on the field and was called up later. But he came on the field and played at a very high level
Sych himself said that his appearance on the field was quite unexpected for him.
“Going out on the field? It happened quite unexpectedly for me. The emotions are just incredible. I think it is a dream for every player to make his debut for the first team. This dream has come true for me - thanks to the coach and the team for trusting me. It was a tough game. With the score 2-1, we had to keep this victory. The guys, the whole team, gave their all to win,” said Sych.
Recall
Earlier, UNN told you everything you need to know about the decisive match of the Nations League.
