World Cup
PETRAKOV: “The guys have a lot of workload. Many people could barely move their legs.”
Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Alexander Petrakov He commented on the result of the control match with the Italian “Empoli” (3:1).
– Did you like the game? Why did you want to play against Empoli?
– Empoli helped us, he answered because they could not play against Udinese. As if I didn’t choose an opponent. Many thanks to the Italians for the reception, the club, the president, the coach, the players.
– How do you prepare the team, given the current situation in Ukraine?
“It was tough when we got together. Thank you guys for listening to me and doing everything I tell them. They’re very tough. Today, at the edge of the court, I played with them practically, trying to get them physically fit. I pushed them forward, most of them barely crossing their legs.” He moved. But I thank them for coming to the end, they’re great. We need control matches. The problem is, we never played sparring.
– Any details about Denis Popov’s injury?
– He has a problem with his Achilles tendon, we’ll see, it takes about two days. The doctor said the tendon was intact, but an MRI was needed and Denis needed a few days of rest. I’ll let him go to his wife. On arrival Popov will do an MRI and then we’ll make a decision.
– What composition will we see in the Ukrainian national team’s match against Rijeka tomorrow?
– No secret. We fly to Croatia in the morning, arrive at the venue, have lunch. Tomorrow, 11 new players will appear on the field.
– Oleksandr Pikhalyonok scores in the second match in a row and shows a good level of play. Roman Yaremchuk recently came to the field of the national team and scored a goal today. Comment on their game.
– Yaremçuk, who played the last match on May 13, flew to the national team immediately and did not ask for permission. Roman and I are working, 15-20 minutes are left after training to work on the application. He’s good, he had a good time today. God willing, he will score as many goals as necessary in Glasgow. As for Pikhalenok, there is no need to praise him too much. This is a friendly match with Empoli. The man is young, let him play, I’m happy for him.
– Did you watch Eurovision?
– I watched, the whole team watched. We are very happy for our win.
– In June, the national team of Ukraine expects a large number of matches. Any idea how many players are needed to keep up with this insane speed and rotation?
– I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. You see that the men are taking very heavy loads. Injuries received by Popov, Bulets, Gutsulyak. I spoke to the UAF president, told him I wanted to play five practice matches. He also asked to take 27 players to Glasgow and subsequent games.
Source: Sport UA
I have been working as a sports journalist for about 6 years now. I currently work as an author at Sportish, which is a sports news website. I mainly cover sports news and I love writing about all aspects of the sport. I also have experience working as a broadcast journalist, so I have some great insights into how sport is reported and presented.
World Cup
INFANTINO: “If there was no FIFA, there would be no football in 150 countries of the world”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino He commented on World Cup ticket prices, saying they reflected “absolutely insane” demand for next summer’s tournament:
“We have six to seven million tickets and in 15 days we received 150 million ticket requests. So every day we have 10 million requests. This shows how strong the World Cup is.”
FIFA has sold just 44 million tickets in almost 100 years of the World Cup. So we were able to sell tickets for the 300th anniversary of the World Cup in two weeks. Just imagine. “This is absolutely crazy.”
Infantino also noted that funds from ticket sales would be reinvested into world football, but did not specify a specific amount:
“The important thing is that the revenue from this goes back into football around the world. If it weren’t for FIFA, there would be no football in 150 countries of the world. Football exists thanks to the revenues we get from the World Cup, and we reinvest that into football around the world.”
Previously, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on FIFA to further reduce 2026 World Cup ticket prices.
Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
World Cup
VIDEO. The best scorer of the year in the Ukrainian national team has been announced. All targets
The Ukrainian Football Federation has determined the top scorer of the national team in 2025.
This status was given to Polesie’s winger Alexey Gutsulyak, who scored 5 goals and made 3 assists.
Gutsulyak’s assistance became important in the decisive matches of the autumn, when the player scored a goal and made an assist in the match against Azerbaijan, and also scored and assisted in the match against Iceland.
This helped the Ukraine national team reach the 2026 World Cup qualifying play-offs against Sweden in March.
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Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Former Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos He talked about his interaction with Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior and other representatives of Brazil within the scope of the “royal club”.
“The Brazilians aroused my sympathy even as a child. While playing for Real Madrid, I developed excellent relationships with Vinicius, Casemiro and Militao.
It is very easy to find a common language with these guys: they know how to enjoy life, and their mentality is significantly different from that of the Germans.
Casemiro and Vinicius and I understood each other perfectly on the field and developed a unique football bond with Vini.
We communicated warmly in daily life. I believe that if there is no contact between players off the field, it is extremely difficult to achieve harmony in the game.
I used Vini’s high-speed bursts effectively and he masterfully directed my passes,” AS Kroos reports.
Let’s remember that Kroos defended the jersey of Real Madrid from 2014 to 2024. During this decade the German midfielder won the Champions League five times.
Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
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