Lysenchuk likes look of Ukraine display
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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Gennadiy Lysenchuk was in good spirits after his Ukraine side booked a quarter-final spot with a 6-3 win that eliminated Slovenia, who conceded that they had been outclassed.
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Gennadiy Lysenchuk, Ukraine coach
I am in good spirits because we played very well against very tough opponents. It may seem a very easy win but we prepared very hard for this. We had looked at Slovenia's previous matches, we had seen their good and bad points. There were some beautiful goals scored by our players, and the last two goals we conceded went right in the corner. I think the spectators saw a very good game with a lot of goals.
We are now in the quarter-finals, and against Spain [competing for Group B top spot on Saturday] we will do our best. We know it is very difficult but I hope two days from now I will be in a good mood again. I would like to thank the players for playing very well to get this victory.
Dmitriy Klochko, Ukraine goalscorer
First of all it was our first match, so the most important thing was to win. Slovenia are very strong, but all our players put on a great performance. Spain are excellent, they have one of the best squads in the world and we will try to do our best. After the match against Slovenia we will watch our mistakes on video and try to correct them before the match against Spain.
Yevhen Ivanyak, Ukraine goalkeeper
First of all I would like to thank our fans here today. We made some mistakes, but we would like to do our best in the next game. Spain are the best team in Europe and I would like to see a close match against them. We need to be very focused on the match and have good physical preparation. And of course, we need to be lucky. A draw against Spain is enough for us, but we will only play to win.
Andrej Dobovičnik, Slovenia coach
We were surprised by Ukraine's fast attacks and goals. There was no stability in our back line, we did not concentrate enough and Ukraine know full well how to punish these mistakes. The first half was almost a disaster. Unfortunately these were our worst minutes of the tournament. And then it is very hard to catch a team who are physically so strong and quick on the counterattack. But we knew this. Perhaps the 6-3 scoreline shows a real difference in quality today, but if we played them again the margin would definitely be smaller.
Rok Mordej, Slovenia player
Simply put, Ukraine showed that they are better. We could have won only if they had a really bad day, but unfortunately they were excellent. Especially on the counterattack they were dangerous and effective. You can see the big difference between [Slovenia's] amateurism and [Ukraine's] professionalism. They do more training sessions per week than we do in a month. Somewhere this has to be seen.
We had a really tough group. Despite two defeats, I hope that we did not disappoint our fans who have encouraged us by coming here from Slovenia. But that's the way it is. Now we need some rest and then we will fight to reach the World Cup, where two very tough [play-off] matches await us in March.
Rajko Uršič, Slovenia goalscorer
Of course we are disappointed. We conceded a couple of goals too quickly. Ukraine did not allow us to play and they were just waiting for our mistakes. We also hoped to have some luck which unfortunately we did not have. We were more focused and relaxed in the first match against Spain, because we knew that for us this was the decisive match. Against Ukraine unfortunately we lost this concentration and our effective way of playing. A big thanks, all the same, to the fans that came, even if they did see two defeats.