In an exclusive interview with Meta.ua Oleg Fedorchuk He analyzed the current personnel situation of the Ukrainian national team and identified the most problematic position.

“Vitaly Mikolenko, Ilya Zabarny and Nikolai Matvienko are beyond competition,” Fedorchuk said. – However, there is a decline in the right-back position of the Ukrainian national team. Plus or minus, we have three actors of the same level for this role: Efim Konoplya, Alexander Karavaev and Alexander Tymchik.

However, it is not yet known whether Konoplya, who decided not to renew his contract with Pitmen, will play for Shakhtar in the spring and his situation is not stable. Karavaev has had little game practice lately, affecting his potential, and Tymchik has missed a lot of time due to injuries. In my opinion, this is the most problematic position in the national team right now.

Let us also remind you that the winner of the semi-final match between Ukraine and Sweden on March 26 will face the best team in the match between 31st ranked Poland and Albania in the decisive match to advance to the 2026 World Cup final.

Captain and central defender of the Ukrainian national team Nikolay Matvienko In an exclusive interview for Sport.ua, he talked about the match against Sweden in the 2026 World Cup qualification play-offs:

“I think this is the strongest team we can get. Right now everyone is focusing on the situation of the Swedes. But our meeting will take place in two months. Everything can change. Sweden has a very strong squad and most of their players represent elite European clubs. They, like us, have the goal of reaching the World Championship, so we have a very tough match ahead of us.”

For me, the poor performance of the Swedes in the qualifying tournament means nothing. Every team can do their best in a match, even if it is an outsider, and Sweden is one of the strong European teams, that’s for sure. For the Ukrainian national team, this will be a match of life, like all previous matches. “After all, we understand that a war is going on in the country, and every victory, even on the sports front, brings joy to Ukrainians in such a difficult period.”

The match between Ukraine and Sweden will be played on March 26, 2026 at 21:45 Kiev time.

On March 26, the Ukrainian team will play the semi-final play-off match against the Swedish team in the World Cup qualifiers. Expectations from this confrontation in an exclusive interview with the site Spor.ua said the captain of our team Nikolay Matvienko.

“I think this is the strongest team we can get,” Matvienko said. – Right now everyone is focused on the situation of the Swedes. But our meeting will take place in two months. Everything can change. Sweden has a very strong squad and many of their players represent elite European clubs. They, like us, set the goal of getting to the World Championship, so a very tough challenge awaits us.

For me, the poor performance of the Swedes in the qualifying tournament means nothing. Every team can do their best in a match, even if it is an outsider, and Sweden is one of the strong European teams, that’s for sure.

For the Ukrainian national team, this will be a match of life, like all previous matches. After all, we understand that a war is going on in the country and every victory, even on the sports front, brings joy to Ukrainians in such a difficult period.