Kalitvintsev talks up Ukraine
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Article summary
Ukraine coach Yuriy Kalitvintsev is confident in his team's talent and he leads them into the UEFA European Under-17 Championship from 2 May.
Article body
Yuriy Kalitvintsev has led Ukraine into the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals, but it is far from his first success as a coach.
Successes
Right at the start of his managerial career the former FC Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine captain won promotion to the top-flight with FC Zakarpattya Uzhgorod, and he has brought through the likes of FC Shakhtar Donetsk defender Dmytro Chygrynskyiy and FC Metalist Kharkiv striker Ruslan Fomin, both of the verge of the senior international team. Now the 38-year-old is ready to show off to Europe a new generation of talented Ukrainian players. “Before the Elite round when we had to face Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy, I had no doubts we would go through,” Kalitvintsev said. “So it happened. We won all three games with an 8-2 aggregate.”
Varied talents
Kalitvintsev's success has been recognised as he has been appointed Dynamo reserve coach and will take up the appointment after this current U17 campaign. All of those eight goals in the Elite round in Italy were scored by Dynamo trainees - strikers Dimytro Korkishko and Sergiy Shevchuk and defender Kyryl Petrov. However, Kalitvintsev insists: “This is just a coincidence. In the quallifying round in Belarus, Illya Mykhalov and Maxym Bilyy from Shakhtar were the most impressive players, while FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's Yevgen Shakhov was the top man at a recent friendly tournament.”
Tight affair
Now Ukraine face a daunting group of France, Germany and Spain in Belgium. “Any of the eight teams can win the trophy, so it did not matter who we drew in the group,” the coach said. “I have told my boys quite often that self-confidence decides a lot at their age. Two years ago when we met for the first time I set up a task for the players - to get into the [FIFA U-17] World Cup finals. Now we have to make the last step which is to finish in the top five in the European Championship.”
Suspensions
His squad gathered last Thursday to begin preparations, but there is just one cloud on the horizon ahead of the opener in Eupen on 2 May. Kalitvintsev said: “Unfortunately in the first game against Germany we will be without Petrov and Korkishko who are suspended.”
