May 27 – Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko said his team hopes to make their country proud when they take on Scotland in a World Cup playoff semi-final next week.
The eagerly anticipated and emotion-filled June 1 encounter was postponed from March due to the Russian invasion the previous month and will be Ukraine’s first competitive match since. Their domestic league has been abandoned and the national team have been playing a series of friendlies to get fit.
The victor of Scotland-Ukraine faces Wales in Cardiff on June 5 in a winner-takes-all showdown for the final European spot in Qatar.
“This game is one of the most important games in my life. The guys look ready and it’s not necessary to talk about motivation,” Zinchenko told the BBC.
“The physical condition, obviously without the games, it’s not easy to prepare yourself for the guys that haven’t played for a while.”
“I can promise all the Ukrainian people that every one of us is going to give everything to win the game and to make them proud of us and just maybe for a few seconds we would like to give them this smile.”
Looking back at the start of the Russian invasion, he added: “The first period when it just started, it was so complicated to be focused on football. All my thoughts were with Ukraine, Ukrainian people. I would say for everyone, for every Ukrainian footballer .”
Zinchenko, who broke down in tears after his Manchester City team won the Premier League title last Sunday as he wrapped his country’s flag around the trophy in the post-match celebrations, told Sky: “The [support] means everything to me during this period, the toughest of my life. I will never forget this.”
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