2022 World Cup. Ukraine defeated Scotland in Glasgow and made it to the playoff finals!

02.06.2022 00:40

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Oleksandr Petrakov's wards defeated Scotland in a long-awaited match at Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow.

The national team has finally played its first official match of the year. The semifinals of the World Cup playoffs between Scotland and Ukraine were supposed to take place in March, but due to the Russian invasion of our country it was postponed to June 1.

The blue and yellow have been training in Slovenia for the past month. First, the players of UPL clubs started working, and at the end of May they were joined by performers abroad. Oleksandr Petrakov decided to bet on the players of foreign championships, because today our team is based on five such footballers, as well as four Dynamo and two Shakhtar players.

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At the beginning of the game, the teams were mostly cautious, but over time, the Ukrainians began to dominate the opponent in possession of the ball and sharp moments. In the 8th minute after Malinovskyi's pass, Tsygankov hit the ball from the right - Gordon managed to save. On the 17th, Scotland goalkeeper made an incredible save when Yarmolenko found himself in front of the goal.

The British responded by Henley header after the corner going wide. Gordon later managed to overtake Yaremchuk, who was preparing to complete the attack within the penalty area. Yaremchuk, McGinn and Yarmolenko later made inaccurate shots.

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And yet the Ukrainians managed to open the score - in the 33rd minute after a deep through ball of Malinovskyi Yarmolenko elegantly kicked the ball past the goalkeeper. Andriy scored his 0th goal for the national team of Ukraine. After that, the teams finished the first half without any sharp moments.

Our team started the second half briskly and scored almost immediately. Yarmolenko ran with the ball into Scotland penalty area and gave it back to the flank to Karavaev, whose cross was scored by Yaremchuk header.

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Soon Yarmolenko scored dangerously from the right - Gordon parried. Later, Bushchan almost made a howler, but with a ricochet from McGregor, the ball flew past the goal. Later, the blue and yellow goalkeeper had to react to Christie's shot from an acute angle. With 67 minutes played, the home side was close to equalize as Bushchan flipped the ball in after a cross from the right.

Later, the teams exchanged moments - the goalkeepers reacted to the shots of Tsygankov and Armstrong, respectively. In the 76th minute, Bushchan did not allow Adams to score, and Matviyenko reacted to the finishing in an empty net. However, the Scots still managed to score one goal, when Bushchan couldn't make a clear save in McGregor's shot, and the ball crossed the goal line.

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After that, Dovbyk could score, but he was late with the strike after coming one on one with the goalkeeper. At the end of the game, the hosts tried to organize an assault, but the Ukrainians managed to defend the result. At the same time, in additional time, our guys scored for the third time: at first Zubkov wasted a great opportunity, and in the 95th minute Dovbyk calmly realized a way out on his own, which was organized for him by Zinchenko.

The blue and yellow beat the Scots, so now only the Welsh separate them from reaching the 2022 World Cup. The final playoff match between the teams will take place on June 5 in Cardiff.

2022 World Cup. European qualification. Playoffs

Semifinal

Scotland - Ukraine - 1: 3 (0: 1)

Goals: McGregor (79) - Yarmolenko (33), Yaremchuk (49), Dovbyk (90 + 5).

Scotland: Gordon, Robertson (k), Cooper (Hendry, 68), Henley, McTominey, Gicky, McGregor, Gilmore (Armstrong, 68), McGinn, Dykes (Christie, 46), Adams.

Substitutions: Marshall, Kelly, O'Donnell, Suttar, McKenna, Stewart, Brown, Ferguson, Taylor.

Trainer: Steve Clark.

Ukraine: Bushchan, Mykolenko, Matvienko, Zabarny, Karavaev, Stepanenko (Sidorchuk, 90 + 3), Malinovsky (Shaparenko, 72), Zinchenko, Tsygankov (Mudryk, 72), Yarmolenko (k) (Zubkov, 78), Yaremchuk (Dovbyk, 78) ).

Substitutions: Pyatov, Butcher, Sable, Cooper, Orphan, Pihalyonok, Kacharaba.

Trainer: Oleksandr Petrakov.

Referee: Data McKelly (Netherlands).

Booked: Dykes (45), McGinn (59) - Yaremchuk (5), Malinovsky (9), Shaparenko (84).

June 1. Glasgow. Hampden Park.