Blokhin : Ukraine’s youngsters lack motivation

During an interview for Ukrainian newspapers. Oleh Blokhin, the coach of the Ukrainian National Team, said some shocking things about our youngsters ; Who have been some of the best in Europe during the last 3/4 years.

Some excerpts of what he said were :

” The young players do not listen to me for some reason, they are not knocking on the door, they are not pushing into the team.”
“If I’m being honest, I’d take only 20 people to Germany, it is hard for us to find that number,” he said. “But that wouldn’t be right. The squad has to include 23. The lack of serious competition in the team is a terrible thing.”

Oleg, although an incredibly smart Football coach, is a Communist (was actually an MP in the Ukrainian parliament) and still thinks things should be done how they were in his day. Young players today are different today then when he was a young superstar, and he doesnt realise that. There is no lack of ambition among Ukrainian youngsters, and judging by how our youth teams have preformed during the last few years, it is quite the opposite.

And finally, his comment about “lack of competition”. This is crazy as well. In Goalkeeper, although Shovkovsky is the clear number one, you have quite a few Goalkeepers challenging for the backup spot, Bohdan Shust, Maxim Startsev, Taras Lutsenko, Vyacheslav Kernozenko, and Olexandr Rybka, just to name a quick few. Say Tymoschuk, Rotan’, Rebrov, and Husyev are our 4 midfeilders : There is still Shyschenko, Husyn, Milevsky, Aliev, Vorobey, and a few more, who could all make cases to be in the starting lineup either as Midfeilders or attacking Midfeilders. Say Vaschuk, Yezersky, Rusol, and Nesmachny are our defenders : What about Fedorov, Chyhrynsky, and Shevchuk?. Even on forward, most likely, Shevchenko and Voronin - But what about Byelik, Sachko, and a few others?

As you can see, the Ukrainian National Team is not short on depth. Although, I think this is Blokhins way of motivating his players. He’s been known to do “sneaky” things like this, and Im sure this was another one of the tricks up his sleeve. Hopefully, like most of the other tricks he has pulled in the past, this one works just as he wanted.