The first away round of the Championship of Ukraine U15 in futsal is complete. Phoenix can evaluate the resulting summary of points in different ways. But, as we know, in history there are no givens. The questions of what would happen if we had managed to hold up the victorious score in the game against Rivne Sports School No 4, if we had used all our hundred-percent certain chances, if the unfortunate ricochet had not happened, could have been posed differently. What would happen if we had not won the penalty shootout against Energiya of Lviv or against Hopri? What would happen if we had not made a comeback in the games against these two teams? Or if at least one of our goalkeepers had not played up to the mark?
Let’s face it – for the first away round the team deserved a B+. Ten points in five games is the figure that allowed the team to get a foothold on the fourth place while falling only 2 points behind the second place. You must admit that it is a very good result in the tournament where the predominant majority of teams are absolutely equal by the level of the game they show and everyone is capable of winning against everyone.
Phoenix had enough ‘physics’ for all five games in such a tight schedule. The team completed its first portion of the tournament in a smooth and stable way, the defeat in the first game had no impact upon the mood of the boys who then scored four victories in a row.
What we liked is the ability to take a punch. In the games against Energiya, Ilichovets and Hopri we trailed behind, but this did not knock off the team spirit and we made a comeback in all three cases. What’s more, we did it very quickly in the second and third cases.
The team played in a very disciplined way in the defense and we liked the way it did in the pressing as the team won several games due to it.
Our goalkeepers showed a very good and reliable level of game that allowed field players to feel calm and confident. Phoenix has the third index by the goal difference, and by goals scored it shares the second position with Sports School No 4.
Certainly, it should not go unmentioned that we won two penalty shootouts when the strikers were impeccable and Lazeba was unrivaled in the goal.
The relative stability of the team in this round saved it on match day both yesterday and today when the leaders who had started in the first two rounds without losses began to lose points. Whereas in many cases the reasons, as it appeared, were mostly psychological.
Undoubtedly, in the game against Hopri, the task was to win. It was important to stay in the game before the second play round without letting the leading teams go too far ahead. Moreover, the boys wanted revenge for the loss in the game for the 3rd place of the Championship of Ukraine U13 in the season 2018/19.
And the game started pretty well for us. The very first squad gave the violets a lead. Our combination was successful and it was played without a hitch. Soldatenko gave a pass along the sideline to Konkov, the latter shot to the far post and Dolhulia turned home.
Gopri did not manage to catch up quickly and the team switched to play with five field players. This would have almost led to the second goal, if Ivan Konkov who had a good "read" on the crosswise pass of the opponent, had made a different decision. But instead of striking into the empty net he made a pass to Bezruk who did not reach the ball.
The team from the Kherson region searched for approaches to Lazeba’s net and it did manage to find them. Maksym Lavronenko turned home the pass from the face line.
Together with a score lead the team lost its two players – injuries did not allow Mykyta Bodnar and Mykhailo Soldatenko to enter the field. Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko made adjustments into the composition of four-player squads. The key roles were designated for Danylo Khodatskyi and Danylo Dudin whose task was to prevent two pivots of Hopri – Stanislav Nikolenko and Ivan Zhadanov, acting as base players to build up the entire play of Oleksander Burkovskyi Team – from creating dangerous chances at our goals. Both Dudin and Khodatskyi performed their task excellently.
The second half passed with a play advantage of Phoenix that led to twofold advantage by shots – 21 against 10. But the precision of these shots was far from perfect. Danylo Boldyzhev was close to scoring twice, and the most real chance to score was missed by Denys Mikhno who did not hit the empty corner of Viktor Salenko’s net.
It seemed that just a little bit more and Phoenix would score, but instead the ball was in our goal. After one of the shots Volodymyr Lazeba turned the ball away, but Borys Kalihorskyi somehow managed to kick the ball in the net from a tight angle in an unbelievable manner, by also hitting the knee of our goalkeeper with his foot.
What the violets did not succeed to do in almost twenty five minutes was done right after the team had let the goal in. Khodatskyi took Dolhulia one-on-one with Hopri goalkeeper and Max had a precise shot past the goalkeeper.
Hopri switched again to the game with five field players, but it did not lead to any dangerous moments near our goal. Thus full time of the game ended in a draw, and in the penalty shootout our players – Khodatskyi, Boldyzhev, Konkov, Shevchenko and Dudin were all precise, and Lazeba drove away the shot from Artem Ivanenko.
Phoenix has one month ahead to prepare for the games of the second away round which is scheduled for the end of December in Ivano-Frankivsk. In the first turn the team needs to practice their set pieces and get familiar with the parquet, which is not going to be easy considering endless quarantine restrictions and prohibitions as well as the fact that games of the Championship of Kharkiv take place on the open sites.
But the most important is that the play of the team as such in Chernomorsk left very positive impressions. This means we are getting ready for the Ivano-Frankivsk visit with optimism.