Andriy STOLYARCHUK: “Ukraine put up a good fight against Wales”

Andriy Stolyarchuk, commentator of Football 1/2/3 TV channels, commented on the defeat of Oleksandr Petrakov’s team from Wales (0:1) in the playoff final of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

“On the one hand, we couldn’t complete the main mission – we’ve reached the final part of the World Championship. But on the other hand, if we talk about the quality of the game, it pleasantly surprised me. The Scotland match led by Petrakov is usually the best match. We looked very valuable against Wales, we put up a good fight. In fact, according to all football canons, we beat the opponent. In an unlucky place. But this is not a game to be ashamed of. The team played very well.

It seems to me that our team played at a very good functional level, against Ireland and Armenia, as well as two qualifying matches. I did better than I expected. Psychologically we weren’t good enough for the last game. Biggest disappointment, worst taste, because we needed to get three points very easily against this team of Ireland.

Physical exhaustion can be mentioned in the context of the second half, but from the first minutes the guys played standing. It seems wrong to me to talk about physical exhaustion at the 10th minute. The match was disappointing because we underestimated the opponent, we came out psychologically unprepared. And unfortunately we lost two points,” Stolyarchuk explained.