Luis Cortes: "A draw with Scotland is a worthy result that allows us to continue the fight in qualifying"

The head coach of the women's national team of Ukraine Luis Cortes commented on the official website of the UAF draw in the away match of the World Cup-2023 with the team of Scotland.

In the third match of the European Championship qualification for the 2023 World Cup, the blue and yellows at the Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow lost the victory over Scotland in the last minutes, having drawn - 1: 1. 

If you were told before the match that Ukraine would draw with Scotland, would you be satisfied with such a result in a game with a strong opponent? Are you disappointed that the team failed to hold on to the victory?

- Before the game you always have to think that we can win the match. Although we understand the difficult conditions we found ourselves in: only four days of the team's work with the new coaching staff, and some important players could not come to this training camp. And we also had to face the away team with a large number of players who play for the best European clubs.

Given all this, I think this is a good result that allows us to continue the fight in qualifying. It was hard to miss a goal in the last minutes, but I must admit that there were many moments in Scotland during the match.

For the first half hour, Ukraine played confidently, but then it was difficult for our players to overcome the high pressure of the Scots. Was the team physically ready to face the British for all 90 minutes?

- I think we should improve in this. We need to improve our fitness to be able to compete on an equal footing with big teams. But it depends on each of our girls, and I'm sure they will do their best in the future to make it happen. And, of course, we are here to help them unfold and become even better.

What good did you see in your first game as the head coach of the Ukrainian national team? And what problems need to be solved before the meeting with Hungary?

- I saw a lot of positive things during the match: the attitude of the team, because the girls taught as much as possible throughout the game, the intention to keep the ball, play confidently and always defend as a team. But we also need to improve some things. For example, in the second half we lost the ball very quickly after it was taken away. The best way to protect the desired result is to hold the ball.

What did you tell the girls in the locker room after the game? They are upset because the victory was so close?

- Yes, they were worried about the missed goal. And it really hurts when we were close to such an important victory, but never achieved it. I told the girls that they should be happy with the end result, because it's still one point at Hampden Park against a very good opponent. I also said that I am very proud to be the coach of this team. I am sure that we will become better and better in future matches.

2023 Women's World Cup. Qualifying tournament

European area. Group B

16.09.2021/0/10 Faroe Islands - Spain - XNUMX:XNUMX

17.09.2021/0/2 Hungary - Scotland - XNUMX: XNUMX

21.09.2021/7/1 Scotland - Faroe Islands - XNUMX: XNUMX

21.09.2021/0/7 Hungary - Spain - XNUMX: XNUMX

21.10.2021. Ukraine - Faroe Islands - 4: 0

22.10.2021/2/1 Scotland - Hungary - XNUMX: XNUMX

26.10.2021. Ukraine - Spain - 0: 6

26.10.2021/1/7 Faroe Islands - Hungary - XNUMX: XNUMX

25.11.2021/12/0 Spain - Faroe Islands - XNUMX: XNUMX

26.11.2021 Scotland - Ukraine - 1: 1

Standings

Teams

G

W

D

L

 М

P

1. Spain

4

4

0

0

35-0

12

2. Scotland

4

3

1

0

12-3

10

3. Ukraine

3

1

1

1

5-7

4

4. Hungary

4

1

0

3

8-12

3

5. Faroe Islands

5

0

0

5

2-40

0

30.11.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX Hungary - Ukraine

30.11.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX Spain - Scotland

08.04.2022. Ukraine - Scotland

08.04.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX Hungary - Faroe Islands

12.04.2022. Ukraine - Hungary

12.04.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX Scotland - Spain

02.09.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX Faroe Islands - Ukraine

02.09.2022 Spain - Hungary

06.09.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX Spain - Ukraine

06.09.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX Faroe Islands - Scotland

Playoffs: October 3-11, 2022.

Intercontinental playoffs: November 7-15, 2022, February 13-25, 2023, and April 3-11, 2023.

Final tournament (Australia, New Zealand): July 10 - August 20, 2023.

Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament. European area

Group Round

Europe has 2023 direct tickets to the 11 World Cup, another team will take part in the intercontinental playoffs.

The 51 national teams will play in a two-round tournament with home and away matches in nine groups: three groups of five teams (A-C) and six groups of six teams (D-I). The matches of this stage will take place in the period from September 2021 to September 2022.

Group A: Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Slovakia, Georgia.

Group B: Spain, Scotland, Ukraine, Hungary, Faroe Islands.

Group C: The Netherlands, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Cyprus.

Group D: England, Austria, Northern Ireland, Northern Macedonia, Latvia, Luxembourg.

Group E: Denmark, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Malta, Montenegro.

Group F: Norway, Belgium, Poland, Albania, Kosovo, Armenia.

Group G: Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Lithuania.

Group H: Germany, Portugal, Serbia, Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria.

Group I: France, Wales, Slovenia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Estonia.

Nine group winners will go directly to the 2023 World Cup. The second teams of the groups will continue to fight in the next stage.

Playoffs

The nine teams that take second place in the groups will advance to the playoffs, which will consist of two stages.

The top three among the second teams will have the opportunity to play directly in the second stage of the playoffs. The remaining six participants will compete for three passes in single-match confrontations in the first stage. The three winners of the first round and the three teams that advanced directly to the second stage will determine the three winners of the UEFA playoffs in one-match duels.

The two winners of the second-ranked UEFA playoffs (criteria applied to the results of the group stage plus the playoffs of the second round) will receive two automatic places at the 2023 World Cup, while the third winner will continue his journey in the intercontinental playoffs.

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