By Petro Marusenko, The Day
The national soccer team has started the training process for the first games of European championship, the final games of which will take place in Belgium and Holland in summer 2000.
The three days training work at the Kyiv Dynamo base in the Koncha-Zaspa resort area near Kyiv ended with a trial game between the national and Olympic teams. The game showed that without Kyiv Dynamo players, the national team cannot be considered battle-worthy. At the same time the youth team showed a well-organized game and won by scoring two goals against zero. Yevhen Kotov of Stal (Alchevsk) and Andriy Vorobey of Shakhtar (Donetsk) scored the goals.
Joseph Sabo, national team coach: “We plan to have four training sessions before our game with Russia. We will most definitely test every player to see if he is improving. We did not invite Kyiv Dynamo players for the first session on purpose, because we all know what they are capable of. We were interested not in the result of the game, but in mastering game techniques.
Viktor Kolotov, “under 21” team coach: “I advised the boys to play defensively and they did.”
Meanwhile, Kyiv Dynamo’s progression in the Ukraine Cup competition after its defeat of Kryvbas in Kryvy Rih (4:2) virtually assures it a berth in the tournament finals. The game was attended by 36,000 spectators. The return match in Kyiv remains a mere formality.
Photo by Oleksandr Lepetuha, Ukrainian Football:
First string captain Ivan Hetsko (No. 8) and his partner Mykhailo Starostiak vs. Oleksandr Pershyna (No. 2, center) and Valentyn Sliusar
