Scotland 1-3 Ukraine (McGregor 79′ | Yarmolenko 33′, Yaremchuk 49′, Dovbyk 90+5′)
HAMPDEN PARK – In a corner of Hampden’s cavernous stadium, among the thousands decked in the yellow and blue, there were tears of joy and defiance.
Oleksandr Zinchenko stood bare-chested, roaring at the 3,500 fans congregated under Glasgow’s brilliant summer sky. He ripped off his shirt and threw it into the crowd.
On a night for the ages at Hampden, 13 men and one manager earned a victory that will be etched in the annals of Ukraine’s history. This war-torn country, many of whose national team players have not played in months since Russian tanks rolled into their country, stand just 90 minutes from the World Cup.
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How to watch Scotland vs Ukraine on TV and what time the World Cup play-off starts tonight01 June, 2022Most of the blue and yellow wall inside Hampden will have friends or relatives scarred by the conflict that has sickened Europe. A small number among the support, specially invited by the Scottish FA, have been made orphans by the war that has laid siege to their country.
The wave of joy that surged through the end after Artem Dovbyk’s late goal pales into insignificance when bombs are being rained on their country and compatriots left homeless or bereaved.
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. Ukraine conjured a victory that was so special, the home fans stayed behind to applaud the courage on show.
How Scotland must have cursed being cast as the villains on a night which was so big for them too.
A sun-kissed evening in Glasgow seemed tailor-made for Steve Clarke’s Scotland to confirm the gains of the last 12 months and take a definitive step out of the nation’s troubled recent relationship with World Cup qualification.
Men supped from cans, buskers did a roaring trade, beach balls were booted around car parks. If Clarke’s revolution had brought one thing to these occasions, it was a sense of belief in a team seemingly on an upward trajectory. Tense this was not.
Player ratings
Scotland (3-5-2): Gordon 9, McTominay 6, Hanley 5, Cooper 6 (Hendry 5), Hickey 6, McGinn, Gilmour 4 (Armstrong 6), McGregor 7, Robertson 7, Dykes 5 (Christie 5), Adams 5
Ukraine (4-1-4-1): Bushchan 6, Karavaev 7, Zabarnyi 6, Matvienko 7, Mykolenko 6, Stepanenko 7 (Sydorchuk 6), Yarmolenko 8 (Zubkov 7), Malinovskyi 6 (Shaparenko 6), Zinchenko 8, Tsygankov 8 (Mudryk 6), Yaremchuk 7 (Dovbyk 7)
Hampden was its usual crucible of noise, of course, but the downright hostility that has cowed better opponents than Ukraine was understandably absent. Scotland’s welcome was as charitable as you’d expect, right down to applause for the visitors’ anthem. The significance of a song that begins “Ukraine’s freedom has not yet perished” was lost on no-one.
It seems cruel to castigate the home fans for it, but it all felt a bit too nice for a winner-takes-all World Cup qualifier.
Only when Ukraine started to eke out an advantage through some second half gamesmanship did the Tartan Army crank up the decibel levels and turn on their opponents. By then it was almost too late, Ukraine having clinically exposed the deficiencies that remain in this Scotland side.
The narrative was that Ukraine would be undercooked but their first-half performance was hewn of more than just raw emotion and spirit. Instead, they stitched together the best away performance Hampden had seen for years, the brilliant winger Viktor Tsygankov tormenting Scotland’s stretched back three. His fizzing effort on eight minutes drew the first of three world-class saves from the evergreen Craig Gordon, who kept Scotland in the contest.
How to watch the World Cup 2022 play-off
Date: Sunday 5 June
Kick-off time: 5pm
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football, coverage begins at 4pm
Live stream: Watch it live on Now. Day passes are £11.98 or a monthly pass is £33.99
We perhaps should not have been surprised. Understandably lost in the pre-match noise was that Petrakov’s side had emerged unbeaten from two games with world champions France in their qualification group. This is a side that in more innocent times for their homeland had carved themselves out a presence in major tournaments, reaching the last eight of the summer’s Euros before succumbing to England.
In Andriy Yarmolenko, they had a Premier League quality forward who was the most dangerous striker on the pitch. It took every ounce of Gordon’s muscle memory to prevent him from converting after Ukraine had sprung Scotland’s misfiring offside trap.
You suspected the home side might respond but instead it was Petrakov’s side who continued to press. Benfica striker Roman Yaremchuk’s header was reward for their dominance as he rose above a docile Grant Hanley to give Ukraine a cushion.
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Inevitably, Scotland rallied. Even on nights like this when things go so badly awry they can still dredge from reserves of spirit and tiring Ukrainian limbs aided their cause. Scotland started to build, but found their composure was absent. John McGinn flashed a header wide with the goal gaping.
Callum McGregor did score, pouncing on uncertainty from Georgiy Bushchan in the Ukraine goal, and it felt as if Hampden had been jabbed awake. Stands shook, opportunity returned.
But this was not the Scotland of the rest of the qualifying campaign, or of Wembley 12 months ago. Billy Gilmour, so disappointing, had been withdrawn and in his absence it was too hurried and frenzied. Scotland over-committed in injury time, Dovbyk raced clear and the World Cup dream perished for another four years.
For Ukraine’s heroes, it goes on to Cardiff on Sunday. Destiny is calling.
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