Oleksandr Kucher analyzed the 2nd round of the UPL, highlighting Polissya, Ocheretka, and Surkis's son-in-law

Alexander Kucher summed up the 2nd round of UPL, evaluated the refereeing in the Dynamo match, and the fantastic start of Karpaty in an exclusive interview with "UF".

On the eve, on Monday, August 10, the passions of the second round of the Ukrainian Premier League season 2026/27 subsided. Therefore, the journalist of the "Ukrainian Football" website Viktor Glukhenky, according to the tradition of our publication, summed up the battles on the domestic fields with an authoritative expert, this time being the former head coach of Metalist, Chornomorets, and Dnipro-1, Alexander Kucher.

"Due to the events in Odessa, the whole round was somewhat spoiled... These are our realities today, unfortunately."

– Alexander, what are your overall impressions of the second round of UPL? Did it meet your expectations?

– Of course, due to the events in Odessa – the landing near the Chornomorets stadium and the cancellation of the match between Chornomorets and Kolos – the whole round was somewhat spoiled, let's say, overshadowed, but... These are our realities today, unfortunately.

As for the round in general, except for the first two matches, which did not please with goals and inclined to sleep, it turned out to be interesting, the matches on Sunday and Monday were exciting 😀

– The teams in the second round took a long time to warm up, let's start with nominations right away. And the first one is the best match of the round, in your opinion, which one?

– I won't single out one match, but I'll name a few. In terms of the course of the game and intrigue, I liked the matches of our giants. Both Dynamo and Shakhtar won, but Veres and Epicenter gave a good fight to the blue-and-whites and the miners. It was especially difficult for Kyivans in Rivne, where they snatched victory in added time, scoring the decisive goal from a penalty [clearly converted by Matviy Ponomarenko].

I also liked the match between Zorya and Krivbas (1:3). A very interesting game. Three goals in the Luhansk team's net from the penalty area surprised, as did the comeback of the Krivyi Rih team. The team under Van Leuven is almost new now... The match in Kyiv was also impressive, what can I say.

– Which match deserves the title of the worst in the round?

– Probably, I would name the match between Livyi Bereh and Kudrivka as such, because throughout the 90-plus minutes, the teams made two shots on goal each (both in favor of Kyiv, – ed. V.G.).

This game also lasted too long. First, it was postponed due to an air alarm, then, again, due to the sound of sirens, it was suspended. The rhythm of the game was disrupted.

"LNZ did not deserve the 0:3 defeat against Karpaty."

– Where was the main sensation of the round?

– In the last game. In my opinion, LNZ did not deserve the 0:3 defeat against Karpaty.

– The team of the round according to Alexander Kucher.

– Polissya, because Ruslan Rotan's team confidently defeated the ambitious Kharkiv both in terms of play and score (3:1). The home team didn't give the guests much to do. Therefore, Rotan deserves the title of the coach of the round.

– And who worked hard to be named the player of the round?

– I don't even know, honestly... I won't single anyone out, but Oleg Ocheretko from Shakhtar deserves praise for scoring a brace. Well done.

– Who would you call the main anti-hero of the round? Didn't you think that Christian Bilovar, coming out in the starting lineup in Rivne after a long break, acted too risky and almost created serious problems for Dynamo?

– Did he make a mistake or not, that's the question... (referring to the episode in the 15th minute of the game when Bilovar disrupted Veres' attack, one-on-one, but received not a direct red card from referee Derevinsky, but only a yellow one, – ed. V.G.). There is a referee's decision...

– But the first really scandalous or rather controversial moment interpreted by the referee in the new season happened.

– I'm not a referee and I won't judge, but in my opinion, Bilovar should have been sent off in that episode. A clean break, and he grabs with his hands, brings down the opponent. As for the penalty in Veres' goal, there are no questions – a clear penalty kick.

"Currently, Karpaty are in good form, as evidenced by the strong victory over Krivbas in Kryvyi Rih and the home win over LNZ."

– Two rounds are too small a sample to make any global conclusions, but at the start, Karpaty look very strong. Did you expect such a start from the Lviv team?

– Karpaty is an ambitious project, a club with a history. They have openly declared for years that they would like to play in European competitions. Last season, especially in the first half, things didn't go well for Lviv, then Fernandez came and things improved, and it was too late to fight for a place in the top three...

Now Karpaty are in good form, as evidenced by the strong victory over Krivbas in Kryvyi Rih and the home win over LNZ. For now, the "lions" are doing well, and we'll see how it goes.

– And what about LNZ? Before the start of the new season, almost all experts sang their praises, although personally, I was skeptical and suspected that after a successful previous season, the "agrarians" could drop below the tenth place. And so far, to put it mildly, their game is not really impressive.

– I think that LNZ's performance in the UPL is affected by their performance in the Conference League qualifiers. The Cherkasy team is not used to the cycle where they have to play every two days with long travels. And psychologically, their exit from the Conference League did not have the best effect on them.

I think LNZ won't fall apart. They need time to recover from the negative European experience.

Results of the 2nd round of UPL

Livyi Bereh – Kudrivka – 0:0

Bukovyna – Obolon – 0:0

Zorya – Krivbas – 1:3

Epicenter – Shakhtar – 0:2

Veres – Dynamo – 1:2

Polissya – Kharkiv – 3:1

Karpaty – LNZ – 3:0

UPL standings after the 2nd round

Top scorers of UPL after the 2nd round