“So far there is no match scheduled for May 23 but I was told it could happen. We will also play with the DR Congo team when all the legionnaires are gathered in 90 percent of the 26. We will train and fly to Glasgow on 30 May after Oleksandr Petrakov, head coach of the Ukraine national team, played a friendly match with Rijeka. That match, which took place on May 18, was the last training for our team. Because neither on the 26th nor the 23rd battles for control for the “blue-yellows” were planned. It remains only to “train” and fly to Glasgow.

The preparation of the national team against the Scotland national team for the most important game of the 2022 World Cup play-offs has already been described by many as a failure. Personally, I have tried to maintain Olympian composure on this matter, considering all the hardships of the war. But for now, the calm was enough. Or rather, it wasn’t enough. And I have to repeat after so many: This is a failure, gentlemen from the UAF. Otherwise, to my deep regret, the state of affairs cannot be called.

Petrakov’s team played three friendly matches with Borussia Gladbach, Empoli and Rijeka. In no case do I want to look like a grumpy or ungrateful couch fighter, but personally it seems to me that these opponents are definitely not what our team needs right now.

Only in the first case, namely the game against the German team, it was said that the opponent played approximately the same pattern as Clark’s team. As I understand it, against Borussia Petrakov tried to play hard, vertical football with elements of pressure. In this case, offset. But I personally did not understand how the head coach of the main team of the country and his wards tried to play football against the other two opponents. Sorry, sure, but it seemed to me that according to the “zodiac” Italians and Croats are not very similar to Scots.

Well, okay: as they say, the doctor (that is, the head of the UAF) said – to the morgue, so to play, so you need to get him under the hood.

Regardless, our team got some basic gameplay practice. And the coaching staff is food for thought. And even if this “meal” is “lumpy” in places – among others, the top Dynamo football player was expelled from the national team. Something like this: I’m an artist, that’s how I see it.

From my side, at least in terms of common sense and logic, including what’s next, that is, when all the legionnaires have arrived and the team has won the lines of “normality”, in the second phase of preparation, and not an experiment, the real work will begin. And a real fight. You don’t need to be a world champions coach to understand that you have to simulate the situation a few days before the most important official match. tactical (and similar) future playoff opponent like ours.

But instead, I heard that a deal was made with the Democratic Republic of the Congo national team. Excuse me but somehow I can’t find at least a semantic similarity between this African team and the Scots. But this, as it turns out, is not so bad. The problem is, this duel won’t even happen. Why is unclear.

As a result, it turned out that the players should train on both sides or “with their partners”, as Petrakov suggested after the match with Rijeka.

UAV

In fact, the coach of the “blue-yellows” is at least trying to show a good face in a bad game. He plays against selected teams. In general, it’s not the coach’s job to seek sparring. Perhaps, if Shevchenko were in Petrakov’s place, he could have agreed to a friendly duel with a worthy opponent through his own channels, given his authority and connections. Petrakov failed. And it’s not his fault.

This is clearly the fault of the President of the UAF. Now I understand what is happening in our country, I don’t need to remind you again. But I understand that in current conditions it is necessary to do not just everything, but three times more. This applies to any citizen of our country. It seems to me that Andrei Pavelko not only did three times more than he should have done, he did not even do the minimum necessary. At this stage, it is not surprising that clubs with no tournament motivation in their championships have come to an agreement on “freight trains”. Difficult – bargaining with more serious competitors. To do this, you need to get out of the ordinary and just say that everything is complicated, no one picks up the phone.

This requires great authority: to persuade, to demand, to pressure. It would seem that Andrey Vasilyevich cannot boast like that. Therefore, we have to brag about the photo with boxes.

It would fail in normal life. But now it’s not the right size. It’s not scope. These bad guys…