To be completely objective and fair, there is absolutely nothing good or positive in the defeat of the Ukrainian team at Cardiff City Stadium. Although some voices say otherwise. Whatever the situation, conjuncture and weather, defeats are always orphaned. And Karavaev, Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, and at least my tears are unlikely to be fixed. Problem not solved. However, Wales solved this problem two to one. It’s taken. And you can’t say it’s unfair. Fair enough, what’s in there. Especially if we start from the motto that winners are not judged.

However, besides the dry residue, I still want to say this. To dive into the real thing, not the football reality, with your permission. Not in Cardiff or UEFA, but in Ukraine.

We were one hundred percent sure that if a similar defeat had occurred in peacetime, we would have crushed our players into dust. Now, at least, it’s not necessary to do that. It is forbidden. Because negative moments, feelings and actions need to be projected onto others, not yourself. Ukraine will survive – yes, it has already – a defeat from Wales on the football field. Ukraine will not be able to recover from the defeat of Russia in the military field. Ukraine must defeat rashism. And only then will our football have a second try, a second chance. We’ll uncork our single malt Hennessy for football victories. Definitely.

And now, though, let me sprinkle salt on the wounds to analyze the root causes of our defeat at Cardiff. Not to kick the liar once again, but to draw the right conclusions in the near future.

The winning roster is still changing

Hardly anyone doubted that Petrakov would build the same squad that went to Glasgow in the Scotland game. Well, how could it not be shown, because the guys really played with strength and inspiration. Probably, nine out of ten coaches would have done the same thing at his Blue-Yellow mentor’s place.

However, already after playing time, we can still say that duplicating the composition is a mistake. Some players (let’s not point fingers) simply didn’t press “notes”. Yes, it’s not their fault, it’s more of a misfortune. But the truth does not cease to be true.

First of all, it is devoid of emotional charge. In that case, please don’t confuse it with motivation. Only the motivation of the players was enough. Well, it couldn’t be otherwise. But I think almost all the adrenaline that was “in full swing” in the first game of the playoffs showed only occasional signs of life in the second.

In short, this time there was practically no help for courage.

Do not forget about the “inadequate” physical preparation of our players.

This nuance should also be taken into account. Regardless, the Welsh team was initially in better conditions than the Ukraine team. Again, that’s not Page’s team’s problem. It is more of a statement of fact. It seems to me that the main game our coaching team set up for their ward is against Scotland. And that’s generally true because if there was a defeat in that game, there wouldn’t be a game in Cardiff.

But as he did his best in Glasgow, throwing all their trump cards into the battle, Page truly doubled down in the League of Nations match in Poland, it turned out that our team just didn’t have enough strength. second match. Neither physical nor moral-volitional.

Yarmolenko’s punishment

The part where Allen put his foot on Yarmolenko’s leg in the 40th minute of the match was clear to me personally. I’m assuming the Welsh midfielder in that division no longer had time to “hide” or lift his leg: he “rolled” with a foul due to inertia. But in terms of football law – what’s the difference? It is therefore unclear to me what guides Judge Laos without taking his freedom to “point” (although it is difficult to blame him for his absence). Honestly, I do not want to believe in a conspiracy – they say that at the 2022 World Cup Ukraine was an unwelcome guest …

Wales created much less, but an order of magnitude better

In no case should we belittle the victory of our opponents. Yes, the “red dragons” were not particularly surprised by anything. And put Laos in that punishment, things could have been different. However, the last thing you want in this situation is to “blame” the referee. Because credit has to be given to the opponent as well. And we weren’t particularly surprised either.

We scored on our own but Bale still deserves praise for his good free kick performance. The moment Johnson takes his shot on the post, Ramsey’s wild miss from a deadly distance, and Buschan’s equally insane save after Bale’s shot: We didn’t have such a quality shot. Unfortunately.

And if Dovbik had cornered his head a little more, it is unlikely that Hennessy would not have “protected” in the end …

Substitutes did not speed up the game

The problem is. The appearance of Shaparenko, Dovbik and Mudrik on the field was predetermined. It seems to me that these young players were going to show up in the game anyway. But in this case, their solution didn’t work. I think these three (especially the last two) didn’t work as they were great options for counterattacking. But the point is that our team played positional football and the home team played “counter”.

Simply put, Mudrik did not have the opportunity to show his best qualities with jet speed. There was no space. He and his comrades are just an elm on a dense defensive “roof”.

Is it necessary to remove Petrakov after the defeat?

No, he doesn’t need it. This is my personal opinion. It is possible that the current coach of the Ukrainian national team is not known as a dedicated innovator or a sophisticated tactician. Just like its predecessor. Or as his possible backup. But I still think that Alexander Petrakov is in his place now. In the current conditions – I repeat: in the current conditions – he did everything he could. And what was possible. There were no obvious coaching miscalculations in the two playoff games. In addition, we must not forget what kind of “scumbag”, excuse me, Petrakov dragged the national team into this ass.

It seems to me that 64-year-old Petrakov will develop as a coach with his wards. His team is now playing interesting, spectacular and modern football. Yes, there are nuances, but there are always nuances. And in everyone. Give him a chance to finish what he started.