Hampden Park, Glasgow (Photo Credit: Mark Temnycky)
Having last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, the Scottish senior men’s national team will be anxious for this game. Ukraine is a challenging side, and Scotland will need to give it their all to advance to the playoff final. Given the successful season of several Scottish football players, however, the Scottish national team will be ready for this game. Many of Scotland’s senior footballers play for various Scottish and English Premier League sides, and having recently completed their domestic football seasons, they will be ready for this match.
Scottish fans have also been anticipating this game for several months. Given the nature of the qualification draw, Scottish fans will believe that their national team will have a serious possibility of advancing to the playoff final. Over the coming days, supporters have filled the streets of Glasgow, beaming with excitement.
As the war rages on, numerous Ukrainian clubs have organized charity tours and club friendlies with some of Europe’s top teams so that they can promote awareness about the Russian invasion. They have also raised a considerable amount of money so that they can provide humanitarian relief to Ukraine.
The playoff match against Scotland, therefore, will be very emotional and symbolic for Ukraine. The qualification game will provide Ukrainians with a sense of pride and optimism in an otherwise difficult period in their history. The war has united Ukrainians throughout the country, and around the world.
This unity can be used to the national team’s advantage as it could help inspire the players as they prepare for this match.
“There will be an incredible atmosphere in Hampden Park,” Ukrainian national team manager Oleksandr Petrakov recently said in an interview with TIME magazine.
Neutral fans will also be rallying behind Ukraine. According to numerous football pundits on ESPN FC, Fox Soccer, The Telegram, and several other media platforms, the world will be supporting Ukraine. Since the start of the war, the international community came swiftly to Ukraine’s defense by sending humanitarian, medical, and military aid. Given what the Ukrainians have endured over the past four months, football fanatics and casual observers will want Ukraine to succeed as the world provides its sympathy for this Eastern European state.
Most recently, Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Manchester City, dedicated his club’s English Premier League title to Ukraine.
“I would love to bring [the English Premier League] title to Ukraine,” Zinchenko said in an interview after City’s 3-2 dramatic victory over Aston Villa that saw the Sky Blues win the 2021/22 EPL trophy. “They deserve it.”
Overall, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been devastating. Thousands have perished from the unprovoked war, and millions are displaced. The war has led to a call for action, and the members of Ukraine’s senior men’s national football team are working tirelessly to help their homeland. Their desire to help their country has improved the situation back home, and it has informed people around the world of the atrocities that are being committed by the Russians in Ukraine.
“It’s a very big responsibility,” Petrakov said in his interview with TIME magazine, but he believes his team will be ready.
Read more:
- Russian oligarchs in Europe: soccer, churches, and working for the Kremlin
- Ukrainian soccer fans accuse UEFA of supporting Russian aggression (2014)
- Following Russian intervention, UEFA bans “Glory to the heroes,” Ukraine’s rallying cry for independence, as “political”
- Fact from fiction: the controversy surrounding Ukraine’s Euro 2020 football kit
- Football as a symbol of hope: Ukraine at EURO 2020
- FC Zorya Luhansk: A story of war, financial destitution, and absolute fighting spirit
- Ukraine’s once glorious football may yet rebound with Euro 2020
- Ukrainian artist creates alternative promo for World Cup-2018 in Russia
- Spain’s most popular newspaper supports Ukrainian footballer Zozulya: A lesson in patriotism
- Russian football louts in Marseilles part of Putin’s ‘hybrid war’ against the West (2016)
