The match was full of emotions. For the players from Ukraine, the game was of course dominated by the war. They wanted to do everything they could to make their compatriots forget the misery for a while and to make them proud. “It will be a competition for survival. We play for our country,” Oleksandr Zinchenko said beforehand.
The Ukrainian soldiers encouraged the football players by handing a flag with handwritten messages to the president who traveled to Cardiff.
impetuous start
It was clear that a lot was at stake Sunday night. Within two minutes, Joe Allen was shown a yellow card for a serious foul. Countryman Daniel James disagreed and made that clear. He had to pay for this with a yellow card.
Ukraine then thought it could take the free kick quickly. Former PSV player Zinchenko saw that goalie Wayne Hennessey was not ready yet and suddenly shot the free kick into the goal. The referee soon made it clear that the goal was a line. After all, he had not yet given permission to take the free kick. The visitors then became more and more menacing and had the best chances.
Wales celebrate the goal.
ANP/HH
Own goal
Yet it was Wales that took the lead before half-time through a very unfortunate own goal by Andriy Yarmolenko. The Ukraine captain headed a free kick from Gareth Bale into his own goal: 1-0. The visitors claimed a penalty not much later, after Allen tapped Yarmolenko in the penalty area. The VAR looked at the moment, but didn’t think it was worth a knock.
Wales started the second half stronger, but the biggest chance just after the break was for the visitors. Viktor Tsyhankov was very close to scoring the equalizer, but the goal didn’t seem to want to fall for Ukraine on Sunday night.
The game went back and forth after that. Both teams had a number of huge opportunities and the tension increased by the minute. But there were no more goals and so Wales is going to the World Cup again after 64 years. For Ukraine, the disappointment is huge.
Ukraine’s players lie dejected on the field.
EPA