The most peaceful battle on the Ukrainian front is played this Wednesday (8:45 p.m.) at Hampden Park. 97 days after Russia started the war, in Glasgow, 2,300 km from Kyiv, the Ukrainian soccer team aspires to get the last European place for the World Cup in Qatar. To do this, they first have to eliminate Scotland and then they will face Wales (on Sunday). The country's president, Volidímir Zelenski, trusts the footballers to continue giving hope to his citizens in the midst of a war, which is in its fourth month and for which there is no sign of peace.
It is not easy for Oleksandr Petrakov's side. This is the first official match for the national team since November 2021. In addition, a large part of the team, those who belong to clubs in the Ukrainian league, have been inactive for months. Finally, the team has been training for the last month away from home, in Brdo (Slovenia).
Yesterday they left the Elegance Hotel, where they have stayed, to travel to Scotland. In their preparation, Ukraine has played three friendlies against teams from other countries: they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-2), defeated Empoli (1-3) and drew against Rijeka (1-1). "I cried when the anthem was played," the coach confessed after the match in Germany.
At the age of 64, Petrakov tried to enlist in the army. "I could still eliminate two or three enemies," launched the coach, who has been working in his country's Federation since 2011 and who in 2021 replaced Shevchenko in command of the absolute.
In those matches, in which they still could not count on their foreign stars Zinchenko (City), Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Yarmolenko (West Ham) or Yaremchuk (Benfica), the team wore a special shirt with the motto United for Ukraine .
Many times it is said that footballers live in a bubble, but in this case the glass shell has been broken by the cruelty of the Russian invasion. War is very present in the lives of several players. On May 23, not even ten days ago, the Russians bombed Velyka Novosilka. It is the hometown of Dinamo midfielder Stepanenko and is relatively close to Mariupol. While the winger Karavaev, his teammate and who faced Barça in the Champions League group stage, he is a native of Jerson, where his parents follow. It is the first city that the Russians took in the February offensive and that the Ukrainian army is now trying to recapture.
The center of Kharkov, where Bondar grew up, one of the youngest in the Ukrainian squad, is totally destroyed by the bombs. Another defender, Matvienko, also a Shakhtar Donetsk player, was born in Saky, on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 after an independence referendum.
Eleven months later the situation is totally different from when Ukraine beat Sweden in the same Hampden Park stadium (1-2, Dovbyk's goal in minute 120) in the last European Championship to advance to the quarterfinals. This Wednesday the Ukrainian team seeks to recover normality and its most hopeful victory.
