The national team of Ukraine for the first time passed the group tournament of selection of the world championship without defeats

20.11.2021 17:01

Photo of UAF press service

For the first time in history, the national team of Ukraine was not defeated at the stage of the group qualification tournament of the World Cup. The previous record - only one loss - was set during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. However, then there were more matches, and the result was more significant - first place in the group and a direct pass to the final tournament.

This time you will have to play playoff matches, and under the new scenario. The fifth playoff in the World Cup qualifiers in seven cycles. And we remember that four previous attempts failed: at the 1998 World Cup we were not allowed by the Croats (future bronze medalists), at the 2002 World Cup - the Germans (future runners-up), at the 2010 World Cup - the Greeks, at the World Cup 2014 - French.

And in the selection of the 2018 World Cup there was only one case when the national team of Ukraine fell below the second step, passing ahead of Iceland and Croatia.

An interesting thing: this is not the first time that the current world or European champion or vice-champion gets into the same qualifying group with Ukraine. Ukraine played in the same group with the second team of the 1994 World Cup (Italy), the reigning European champion in 1996 (Germany), the 1998 world champion (France), the 2004 European champion (Greece), the 2006 world champion and vice-champion ( Italy and France), European Champion in 2012 (Spain), European Champion in 2016 (Portugal), and this time - World Champion in 2018 (France). And we drew both matches with the champions - 1: 1.

The national team of Ukraine in the selection of world championships

The record for the number of goals in the qualifications and finals of the World Cup in the national team of Ukraine belongs to Andriy Shevchenko (28). He and Anatoliy Tymoschuk also hold the record for the number of matches played (45 each).