The head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Ihor Kostiuk spoke to the media after the Ukrainian Cup semi-final victory over Bukovyna Chernivtsi (3:0).
— Who do you see as your opponent in the final – Metalist 1925 Kharkiv or FC Chernihiv?
— This is football. Whoever wins, we will play them.
— How deserved was today’s result?
— Today was a celebration of football for the city of Ternopil. Unfortunately the pitch is not of the best quality. I don’t understand why teams are forced to play semi-final matches on such a surface. Bukovyna is, of course, a good team and it was a real cup match. You saw that many chances were created but we executed what we had planned with better quality. Our quick attacks brought us the victory.
— What prevented your team from making your class advantage count more confidently?
— The conversion of our chances should have been better earlier. Then the game would have calmed down a bit. You saw yourselves that at 2:0, in our own half, we lost many duels and on flanks we started to drop off and leave gaps. We reacted in time, made substitutions, balanced the game and scored another goal.
— Did you expect Bukovyna to play the way they did today?
— Bukovyna are a quality team. I have known Serhii Shyshchenko for a long time and his team prepared well for the match. We saw, especially in the second half, how they played more freely when they had nothing to lose, creating chances when we dropped off and they could have scored because of that. But again, we reacted in time and, thanks to substitutions, balanced the game and brought it to a confident victory.
— In the first half Neshcheret saved the team several times. Can it be said that this victory was achieved thanks to the goalkeeper’s performance?
— Among other things, thanks to Ruslan Neshcheret, who saved us. We also created many chances and could have scored more. If you count the number of chances we had compared to the opponent I think our victory is quite logical.
— What is your opinion regarding the first goal? Was it scored according to the rules?
— You watch football, right? Who had possession when their player was lying on the pitch? Bukovyna did not put the ball out of play when they had it. We intercepted, organized a counterattack and scored. There should be no questions here.
— Voloshyn played very well today and his combinations with Buialskii looked like something out of Brazilian football…
— That’s how experience and youth came together (smiles). Vitalii was useful today just like in the previous match against Zorya, accelerating attacks at right moments. I also think Nazar and Redushko had a good game — they provided speed, created chances and that’s how we won.
