Blokhin Alarmed by Ukraine’s Preparations

April 21st, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

We’ve always liked Oleg Blokhin. He was a fun player to watch for the 50 years he played for the Soviet Union. We also are starting to take a liking to him as the coach of Ukraine. Unlike most of the coaches in this year’s World Cup, Blokhin is brutally honest about his players and his team. A few weeks back he called out his young players in Ukraine for lacking motivation. Today, he offers some equally harsh words for the state of his team heading into the World Cup.

“I will not lie to you. I think we have only decided on about 40 percent of the team. I am alarmed by the level shown by our players, by the level of the team in general,” Blokhin said in an interview with Ukrainian weekly Korrespondent.

“There is so little time left. We must have two models of play available — one for the Spanish, one for the Saudis. The great (Valery) Lobanovsky said it took two to five years to create a team. But we will give it a try.”

Ironically, one of the solutions he offers is to turn to some of the players on Ukraine’s junior team. There must be a couple of young guys that have motivation after all.

We’d like to see Blokhin get a shot at a coaching job in Europe after the World Cup. He has had good results everywhere he has coached.

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wendall

I wonder if he’s saying the Tunisian team does not need a strategy or just that one of the other two teams is similar enough in style.

Perhaps he’s thinking he should score as many goals as he can against the Saudis, defend as long as he can against Spain and then Tunisia is a crap-shoot based on what else happens in the group.
mike_the Ukrainian_in california

The 2nd thought of yours – defend well and long against Spain, try to counterattack just like vs. the Danes, Turks and Greeks. Beat the Saudis just like Kazakhstan, not easy but should be done and then … then play for what it is required to qualify. think it may be very close to what it will be. Loss to spain, win vs. Saudis and all out, or not against Tunisia.