New opportunities with Kuyanov: Mriya takes a step forward despite Romanov setback

In the regular round of the Ukrainian Amateur Championship, Mriya (Gostomel) arrived in Zhytomyr region to play the fifth team in the standings, VIVAD (Romaniv). The match was special for Mriya not only because of its away status, but also because the team was led by a new head coach, Vitaliy Kuyanov, who is well known for his performances in professional clubs in Ukraine and Kazakhstan (including CSKA, OLCOM, Knyazha, Arsenal (Kharkiv) and Niva (Ternopil)). Vitalii Sergiiovych also played at the AAFU level (in particular, for Kolos (Askania-Nova) and Druzhba (Kryvyi Rih)), and in recent years he has managed to play for Mriya and Meliorator (Bucha).

An unusual start

Due to logistical difficulties, our team was late for the match, which delayed the start of the game by 15 minutes. In addition, Mriya ended up with only 13 players. However, the hosts also had problems from the very beginning: their defender Kuzhil stumbled in the fight with Tsymbal and left the field in the opening minutes.

The course of the game

Despite the early loss of their leading defender, VIVAD managed to demonstrate team cohesion and a longer bench, which allowed them to launch several successful attacks and gradually take control of the game.

1:0

After Mriya’s mistake in the back pass, Bondarenko took the ball, beat two opponents and sent it with his right foot into the far corner.

2:0

A diagonal pass from deep found Lastovka, who stopped the ball in a jump and threw it under the strike of Golovko. Maksym successfully scored in the corner, beating the Dreamers’ goalkeeper.

3:0

Yavorsky made a cross from the right flank, Lastovka took the ball, turned around and hit the far post from 12 metres.

4:0

Bondarenko picked up the rebound in the centre, threw the ball to Yatskovets, who quickly broke into the penalty area on the right flank and shot from the bottom past the goalkeeper.

5:0

A long pass launched a flank breakthrough by Baz Berezin, who fired into the penalty area. Chopenko took advantage of the opportunity and, as soon as he came on the pitch, closed the far post to set the final score.

Looking ahead

The 0-5 defeat was an unpleasant start to Vitaliy Kuyanov’s coaching tenure, but in the face of staffing difficulties and a forced delay, Mriya tried to do their best. The team will have to analyse the mistakes made in detail and correct them in the coming rounds.

We thank our fans for their support and patience! Mriya continues its journey in the Ukrainian Amateur Championship and believes that with the arrival of a new head coach, it will be able to reboot, stabilise the game and give the fans positive emotions.