Scotland 1-3 Ukraine: Triumph at Hampden Park and a date with history for a place in Qatar

Ukraine beat Scotland 3-1 at Glasgow’s Hampden Park to qualify for World Cup qualifiers in Qatar. On June 5 (7 p.m.) in Cardiff, the Ukrainians have a historic date against Wales.

The use of the guests can be described as heroic. Six of the starting XI started their first official game in a while due to the war that started in February. The last time Ukrainians qualified in the final stages of the World Cup was in 2006.

We remind you that the winner of the pair between Wales and Ukraine will be placed in the second group of the World Cup along with England, USA and Iran.

The match

Ukraine went into the game stronger. In the first part, the guests had the absolute superiority. The first good moment was lost in the 8th minute. Tsigankov caught the shot on the move and Gordon drove with difficulty. In the 17th minute, Yarmolenko faced the Scottish goalkeeper but was unable to beat him.

The Ukrainians had the ball and tried to press into the penalty area, the Scots could not threaten effectively. The guests took the lead in the 33rd minute. Malinovsky hit the ball deep behind the Scottish defense and Yarmolenko hung Gordon to make it 1-0 for Ukraine. The hosts increased the tempo in an attempt to equalize, but to no avail.

Ukraine was similarly strong in the second half. The 2:0 was not long in coming. In the 49th minute, Karavaev’s cross hit the second bar from the right, where Yaremchuk headed the ball into the net. The Benfica player celebrated the goal furiously with the people of the team.

After the 2-0 Ukraine was still in possession and more dangerous. It was even easier to find empty seats as the Scots pushed higher. The hosts tried in the 59th minute to exploit a mistake by Bustsan without result. As the minutes went by, the hosts’ high lines took their place. In the 67th minute, McGinn failed to hit his head from close range.

In the 71st minute, Ukraine missed an opportunity to “lock” the game with Tsigankov, who failed to beat Gordon. Instead, Scotland came back into play in the 79th minute. McGregor shot to the edge of the box, Bustan lost the ball from his hands and it crossed the line to make it 2-1.

The hosts pressed, I tried to get the ball into the penalty area, but it was Ukraine who scored 3-1 against the last phase of the game in 90 + 5′ with Dovbik.

SCOTLAND: Gordon, Cooper (67′ Henry), Hanley, McTominey, Robertson, McGregor, Gilmore (68′ Armstrong), Hickey, McGinn, Dicks (46′ Christy), Adams

UKRAINE: Bustan, Karavaev, Zambarni, Matvigenko, Mikolenko, Stepanenko (90th + 4th Sindorchuk), Yarmolenko (79th Zubkov), Malinovsky (72nd Saparenko), Zinchenko, Tsigankov (72nd Mudryk (72nd))