League of Nations: Ukraine was local for the first time since the start of the war, albeit far from its territory

Like at home, even if far from home. This is how the Ukrainian national team players will have heard, at least for a few hours, that this Saturday they played a local game for the first time since the beginning of the military operations of the Russian army in their country. Obviously they did not do it on Ukrainian soil, where it is unlikely to think of a football match of this magnitude, but in Poland.

The duel against Armenia, corresponding to the third date of group B1 of the League of Nations, ended with a 3-0 victory for the Ukrainians, even if the progress was not as comfortable as the scoreboard indicates. Those led by Oleksandr Petrakov only succeeded in the 16 ‘of the second half with a goal from Ruslan Malinovskyi and extended their lead in the last quarter of an hour thanks to Oleksandr Karavaev and Vitaliy Mykolenko.

The meeting took place in Lodz, the third most populous city in Poland (677,000 inhabitants live there), located 785 kilometers from Kyiv. Although the stands of the municipal stadium Wladyslaw Krol, a modern Colosseum inaugurated in April this year and with a capacity of 18,000 spectators, were not full, a large number of Ukrainian fans accompanied their team.

This was the first game that the former Soviet republic team has played at home since the start of the war in its territory on February 24, which also suspended its participation in the qualifying playoffs for the World Cup in Qatar.

Ten days ago, on his return to business, he had defeated Scotland 3-1 in Glasgow and last Sunday he lost 1-0 to Wales in Cardiff, with which he had seen his last chance to enter the World Cup disappear. On Wednesday, in his League of Nations debut (his match on the first date had been postponed due to his participation in the World Cup playoffs), he had beaten the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Dublin.

In this first presentation exercising the locality in Poland, Ukraine had to measure forces with the team of another former Soviet republic that also went through a war situation less than two years ago: Armenia maintained a war between September and November 2020 with Azerbaijan for control of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Although there has been a negotiated ceasefire by Russia, that dispute has not been fully resolved. Indeed, on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, and offered to mediate between Yerevan and Baku to facilitate the signing of a peace treaty based on a new border arrangement.

As conflicts rage, the ball continues to roll. This is why the teams of the countries in conflict will return to the field on Tuesday, when the fourth date of the B1 group of the League of Nations will be played: Ukraine will again face the Republic of Ireland in Lodz, while Armenia will receive Scotland in Yerevan.