Coaches of national teams of Ukraine and Finland, Andriy Shevchenko and Markku Kanerva commented on the qualifying match of the 2018 World Cup in Tampere.
Team of Ukraine in a difficult match of the qualifying tournament against the Finnish national team scored the most important victory. We bring to your attention the post-match press conference of the head coaches of both teams.
Andrey Shevchenko, coach of the Ukrainian team:.
"First of all, I want to thank the team for fighting and getting important three points. And, of course, I want to thank the fans, today there was excellent support! ".
"In the first half, the fatigue that accumulated towards the end of the season affected, but the guys gave all their strength to the fight, fought to the last, for which I am very grateful to them. We had one planned replacement - the couch was not quite healthy and tired Seleznev came Besedin. But Kovalenko had to be replaced, because it was clear that he had already given all his strength ".
"A bit surprised by the rival, sated the center of the field and was in excellent physical condition. The hosts intensively pressed, owned the ball. But the stronger the opponent - the more valuable the victory. During the break, I told the guys that they continued to give 100%, and that the opponent must sit down. And it turned out. The maximum that we could squeeze today - we squeezed out. And this became a decisive factor in the confrontation of the ".
Markku Kanerva, coach of the Finnish national team:.
"Today the game of the Finnish national team was different from our previous matches.
We controlled the ball a lot, owned the initiative, but gross mistakes crossed out all this. When the Ukrainians scored, my guys just slept.
"Ukraine is an upscale team, and the guests managed to win at the expense of a higher individual skill. But in this defeat there are also positive moments for us. We managed to score, competently defended, if not for a few mistakes. Ukraine showed a more productive game and deservedly won, with which I congratulate it ".