Playing on Contrasts, or Serhii Rebrov’s June Session

As a result, six points in two official matches is the required maximum for the Ukrainian national team in the June matches of Euro 2024. Is everything going according to plan?

When a new coach comes in, people expect changes in the team’s performance. First of all, it concerns her playing style. Each mentor tries to instill his or her own methods to achieve results.

Serhiy Rebrov had less than two weeks to set up the team to achieve the maximum result in the official matches of the 2024 European Championship. And only then make the playing style of the Ukrainian national team recognizable.

Serhii has an interesting set of performers and promising young people around whom he can build a new team. However, we should be realistic and understand that it is impossible to change everything completely in 10–12 days. So, to begin with, it is the result that matters.

What did we see in the match against Malta? Compared to the match against Northern Macedonia, Serhii Rebrov made four changes to the starting lineup: instead of Mykolenko, Tymchyk, Mudryk and Dovbyk, Kryvtsov, Konoplia, Malynovskyi and Vanat came on.

However, the experiments with the lineup left a dubious impression in the first half. Because the match was somewhat reminiscent of the first half of confrontation against North Macedonia: inertia in the attack and a minimum of scoring chances on the part of the Ukrainians.

Malta did not feel pressure from the opponent and easily built a game from defense. And it is important to record this detail. After all, England and Italy did not give the Maltese such a luxury: they scored very quickly, making their lives easier.

In the second half, the Ukrainian team began to increase its activity and wait for the opponent to lose concentration. One of these opportunities was missed by Yarmolenko, who failed to convert a penalty. However, the Ukrainians still achieved the goal.

Moreover, the combination that led to the second penalty involved the very players who came on as substitutes — Mykolenko, Dovbyk and Buialskyi. And at this point, we should pay tribute to Serhii Rebrov’s coaching sense.

I would like to say something about Tsyhankov, who scored the only goal in the match. It seems that Spanish Girona has become a kind of springboard for him in his development as a footballer. In his new role as a freelance artist, Viktor played perhaps his best series of matches for the national team.

The matches against Germany, Northern Macedonia and Malta only gave the player confidence in the future and the opportunity to claim the role of the new leader of the national team.

What is in the dry residue? We can answer in the words of Serhii Rebrov himself, who told reporters after the match: “We are moving, we need more time…”. This time was both enemy and ally of Rebrov at the same time. The limited period of time did not allow us to demand much.

At the same time, after a bright sparring match with Germany, the Ukrainian national team played two less expressive matches, but with the maximum result of two victories. And in this regard, you can’t argue with math. Ukraine comes in second in its group and waits for September.

The matches against England and Italy, participants in the Euro 2020 finals, are perhaps the main football test for Serhii Rebrov as the national team’s manager. He will have more time to prepare and the opportunity to impose his ideology on the team. Ukrainian fans will have to be patient and wait for the confrontation with the leaders of European football.