1-3: Ukraine beat Scotland and Wales will play for the World Cup

The Ukrainian national team, in its first official match since the Russian invasion, brought the joy of football to its country with the victory against Scotland at Glasgow’s Hampden Park (1-3) which gave it access to play- off final. On Sunday, in Cardiff, the pass to the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be played against Wales by Gareth Bale.

Even the lack of competition from the players of Dinamo kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine at the end of February has stopped the illusion of a selection in such a special game.

Ukraine is superior from the first whistle because of the better soccer quality of its players, who are also very motivated to dedicate themselves to their country in these difficult times since the Russian invasion.

Gordon saved Scotland in the beginning

Scotland, technically more limited, were saved in the first minutes by their goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who blocked the goal on two occasions. First by deflecting Viktor Tsygankov’s first shot into a corner after the ball fell to him centered from the right by Oleksandr Karavaev (8 ‘).

A quarter of an hour later, the Hearts goalkeeper won by repelling a point-blank shot at half-turn by Andriy Yarmolenko, who found himself alone after a defensive rebound (18 ‘).

Scotland tried to respond to the Ukrainian dominance based on bravery and by pushing its left back and captain Andy Robertson, starter after beating the Champions League finals with Liverpool against Real Madrid on Saturday.

Great goals from Yarmolenko and Yaremchuk made it 0-2

Oleksandr Petrakov’s larger team possession resulted in 0-1 in the 33rd minute. It was a great goal as his captain Yarmolenko controlled with great quality a long pass from Ruslan Malinovskyi and soon bounced off a very good touch above Gordon.

In the second half the Scottish reaction was expected but Ukraine continued to dominate and made it 0-2 in the 49th minute through a header by Roman Yaremchuk from the cross. The Benfica striker finished by winning behind Aaron Hickey and Scott McTominay with a cross from Karavaev.

0-2 fell like a slab to the Scottish players and Ukraine still had chances to score through Yarmolenko and Karavaev.

McGregor gives Scotland hope

Steve Clarke’s team tried to get into the fight based on bravery but were guilty of haste and lack of success in the shot, as in the 68th minute, when John McGinn, alone, stretched his head when the easiest thing was to score after landing a decline in Georgiy Bushchan’s goal to cover a McTominay center.

This opportunity prompted Scotland, which openly attacked at the expense of exposure to some dangerous counters. Bushchan took a whiplash from Che Adams (76 ‘) and, in the middle of the local siege, Callum McGregor made it 1-2 (79’). The Ukrainian goalkeeper went out to deflect a cross but left the ball in the middle of Celtic, whose attempt was barely touched by Bushchan himself without preventing the ball from crossing the line despite a defender’s last attempt.

Dovbyk points

The final minutes were dramatic, with Scotland turned upside down and Ukraine confined to finding an equalizer, but in the last minute of stoppage time it brought joy among the 3,000 visiting fans present at the stand when Artem Dovbyk fled alone after a pass from his field by Zinchenko and put the final 1-3.