After training Dynamo forward Matvii Ponomarenko shared his impressions of the victory in Kryvyi Rih, which was marked by Andrii Yarmolenko’s record, and also commented on his latest call-up to the Ukraine national team.
– Let’s go back to the game against Kryvbas. You scored from an assist by Andrii Yarmolenko and then won a penalty, which Andrii converted to score his record-breaking 125th goal. So you also played a part in this achievement. Does that make you proud as well?
– Yes, lately I’ve always been thinking about helping him achieve this record. I wanted to provide an assist. As it turned out, I won a penalty, so that was good too. In the game against Kudrivka, I also tried to set him up, but unfortunately, I was offside on that occasion. But never mind. You could say that I fulfilled my task in the match against Kryvbas: I won a penalty, and Andrii Mykolaiovych scored his record-breaking goal.
– You had one day off after the game. Tell us how you spent it.
– I spent the whole day resting at home, just taking it easy. Everything was aching after the game.
– Today’s training session was more recovery-focused. Some of the players who featured in the match went off to rest, while the others continued working. What did you do during today's session?
– Today was a recovery session, preceded by a theoretical meeting. The lads who played less are now getting an intensive workload, and they have a football game today. As for us, we worked on keeping possession and did a little finishing practice. Now we’re heading to the gym for some additional work.
– It became known this morning that you had been called up to the Ukraine national team. What did you think of the presentation of the selected players, with GTA 6 and all those goals?
– Honestly, it was great. I liked the way all the players called up for this training camp were presented. It’s especially symbolic that a new game is coming out now, and they adapted the whole presentation around it. So it turned out really cool.
– Do you enjoy playing PlayStation yourself? Are you looking forward to GTA 6?
– Yes, I’m looking forward to it. I want to play it and see what it’s like.
– If not PlayStation, what else can a footballer do during training camps at the training base?
– Lots of things. You can play on the computer, read books, watch films, go to the gym, ride an exercise bike or do some stretching. If you want to, you’ll always find something to do.
– It has been announced that the national team will hold an open training session in Uzhhorod. Last time, such an event took place in Lviv. How much do you enjoy it when the national team gathers in Ukraine to hold events like this?
– It’s wonderful because people can come and watch us, and we can meet those who have really missed this celebration of football. I really hope the time will come when we can hold training camps not only in Lviv and western Ukraine, but also in Kyiv and other cities – Odesa and Kharkiv.
We want this to happen as soon as possible, so that we can bring joy to people with our performances and play in our home stadiums again. I think this is every Ukrainian’s dream – to return home and play in Ukraine. We sincerely hope that such an opportunity will arise in the near future. And I want to thank everyone who is defending our country, protecting it and doing everything possible to ensure that we can return to this as soon as possible.
