On Monday, May 18, the Ukrainian national football team, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, got a new head coach. After the resignation of Serhiy Rebrov, he became the first foreign specialist (on his 55th birthday!) – Italian Andrea Maldera, who already worked in the headquarters of our team from 2016 to 2021 under Andriy Shevchenko, reports the official website of the Ukrainian Football Federation. The contract is for two years with an option to extend.
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In his position, the son of former Milan player Luigi Maldera, who became the 14th head coach of the Ukrainian national team in history, will make his debut at the helm of the team on May 31 in a friendly match in Wroclaw against the Poles (in addition, the “yellow-blue” will play against the Danes in Odense on June 7).
Andriy Shevchenko and Andrea Maldera
Let us remind you that, in addition to the Ukrainian national team, Andrea Maldera, who married his beloved, also worked on the coaching staff of Milan, and in recent years was an assistant to former Shakhtar coach Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton and Marseille.
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“Maldera is a very strong coach,” said Serhiy Sydorchuk, the former captain of the Ukrainian national team, in an interview with UPL-TV. “When only Italian assistants remained in the national team's staff, Maldera came to the fore. And what I liked was his thirst for work. You woke up at 7:30, went to have breakfast, and he was already sitting with a laptop and analyzing matches and training. There was that home match with Portugal, I think everyone remembers it. Maldera developed such tactics – it was something new for me. I had not seen that.
In three days he figured out how to block Portugal's strengths. He has a lot of football nuances. And human qualities – a decent person. Maybe the fact that he hasn't worked as a head coach is a factor, but I still believe that he will succeed.”
By the way, in memory of his work in the Ukrainian national team, Muldera once decorated his back with a yellow-blue tattoo with a trident.
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During his first press conference, Andrea Maldera named the members of his coaching staff (Pasquale Catalano, Taras Stepanenko, and Volodymyr Ezersky) and announced the list of national team players for the matches against the Poles and Danes.
Goalkeepers — Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica, Portugal), Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid, Spain), Dmytro Riznyk (Shakhtar), Ruslan Nescheret (Dynamo);
Defenders : Ilya Zabarny (“PSG”, France), Mykola Matvienko, Valeriy Bondar (both – Shakhtar), Taras Mykhavko (“Dynamo”), Eduard Sarapiy (“Polissya”), Vitaliy Mykolenko (“Everton”, England), Oleksandr Romanchuk (KSU “Kraiova”, Romania);
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Midfielders : Oleg Ocheretko, Artem Bondarenko, Yehor Nazaryna (all Shakhtar), Yehor Yarmolyuk (Brentford, England), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo), Georgy Sudakov (Benfica, Portugal), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Genoa, Italy), Gennady Sinchuk (Montreal, Canada);
Forwards : Roman Yaremchuk (“Lyon”, France), Oleksandr Nazarenko (“Polissya”), Matviy Ponomarenko, Andriy Yarmolenko (both “Dynamo”), Viktor Tsygankov (“Girona”, Spain), Oleksiy Hutsulyak (“Polissya”), Artem Dovbyk (“Roma”, Italy).
Reserve list: Nazar Voloshyn, Volodymyr Brazhko (both Dynamo), Ihor Krasnopir (“Polissya”), Dmytro Kryskiv (“Shakhtar”), Maksym Khlan (“Gurnik”, Poland).
Previously, “FACTS” reported that the opponents of the Ukrainian national team in the Nations League group have become known.
Photo by UAF, from social networks