Ukraine have entered the European repechage final and will seek their place in Qatar 2022 on Sunday

Ukraine got the passage to the final of the playoffs of the UEFA Qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup. Sunday will face Welsh and the winner will integrate the Group B, along with England, Iran and the United States. He managed to move on to the crucial game after suffering at the end of the match due to the reaction of Scotlandthat 10 minutes from the end he had obtained the discount that allowed him to keep waiting until the third Ukrainian goal that brought down the curtain: 3 to 1 and something else.

There is an exception to the FIFA ruling that the political issues of the nations represented by the teams – or even their leagues – cannot be mixed with football. And that rule is the one that doesn’t reach Ukraine. Because because of the warlike conflict it has Russia As an invader in its territory, Zurich have seen fit to mix things up – things that should never be mixed – and remove the Russian team from the World Cup and that country’s clubs from continental competitions organized by UEFA.

In this context, the team that leads Oleksandr Petrakov head to the world cup. He uses his victimhood as much as FIFA allows him to. The players took to the pitch with the flag of their country and during the week the coach spread the message he gave to his players: to put Ukraine in the World Cup as requested by the Ukrainian soldiers.

In the midst of the war, Ukraine approaches Qatar. And she does it with football: after the referee’s whistle Danny Makkelie -Dutch born on the island of Curaçao, colonial remnant of the Netherlands in the Caribbean-, there were no arguments other than those offered by the balloon.

There is a difference in level between the Ukrainian and Scottish teams that tip the balance in favor of those from Eastern Europe. There is no abysmal record, but the same as when an average First Division team faces a good Second Division team.

These differences did not emerge in the generality of the game, but were visible in the objectives. The first from Ukraine was a great goal. With the time to order the game from below, Tara Stepanenko he moved the ball with Illia Zabarnyi without the Scots approaching to disturb. The ball continued Ruslan Malinovskij who, five meters from the medialuna of his area, took a ball deep Andriy Yarmolenko that point allowed to dominate the ball and to define above the advanced goalkeeper. Great goal, 33 minutes of play.

There was more. Before the first part ended, Yaremcuk This difference in hierarchy was evident: the attacker headed with his head practically without jumping between the two defenders who marked his position. The archer? Still, he saw how the ball entered without being able to do anything.

However, Scotland did not give up. Callum McGregor, who played with an acrylic mask, made it possible. After a center Andrea Robertson, retrieves the ball after the game and opens the game on the right. The game circulated with a single touch and it was he who closed with his right on the edge of the area that the goalkeeper managed to touch, but without preventing him from crossing the goal line. The masked man did it.

From there, Scotland were convinced they could make a difference and that a draw was a possibility. And she played with that belief, but without being able to crystallize ideas. He lacked a lot more to do than play close to the rival area. The Scottish team played so high to play all or nothing that they gave Ukraine the key to settling the issue in recovery time: a counterattack that Artem Dovbyk he defined with a pause in front of the goalkeeper to reach the final with all his potential.

The victory brought Ukraine to the playoff final of the European qualifiers against Qatar. On Sunday they will face Wales, who left Austria behind after a 2-1 win with goals from Gareth Bale and Marcel Sabitzer, for the out-of-competition team.