Ukraine Women 1-6 England (Kalinina 58’ | Russo 47’, 51’, Stanway 64’ pen, 70’, Park 78’, 89’)
Nine hundred miles from home, with a resilient but ultimately emphatic 6-1 defeat to England Women, the long exile of Ukraine’s national team continued.
In a near-empty Turkish stadium, here lay a reminder why Fifa’s recent flirtations with a Russian return to football smack of such moral bankruptcy.
Plunged from one warzone into another region of grave uncertainty, there was some doubt as to whether this World Cup qualifier would go ahead at all. The Lionesses had to seek safety assurances from the Government, with further concerns that Middle Eastern air space could close at any moment as conflict escalates.
Ukraine had battled with such bravery to get there that the scoreline almost felt irrelevant. And that is a mood-reader which ought to shame Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who insists banning Russia following Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in 2022 has only created “frustration and hatred” – and that he would “cheer” if they were welcomed back post-war.
The absurdity of that position should not need to be laid bare. To reach Antalya required a circuitous route by Ukraine’s players, who mostly play in their homeland, of a 15-hour bus to Moldova and then a plane. The venue was chosen by their FA but their hand is forced – they have played in Poland and Croatia but cannot play at home.
The national anthem itself was charged with power. While Iran Women declined to sing their own before playing South Korea, Ukraine draped themselves in blue and yellow flags for a fiery rendition.
With symbolic defiance, they held off a dominant England for 47 minutes until two deft Alessia Russo finishes. Yana Kalinina’s goal from Ukraine’s first attack proved only a brief scare. Georgia Stanway’s brace, one a penalty, the other lashed into the top corner, showed how welcome the Bayern Munich midfielder’s imminent return to the WSL will be. She then set up a fifth for Jess Park, who added a sixth with a looping finish.
The significance of this result on the road to the 2027 World Cup will become clear. What was inescapable was the sense of unease.
Russia was first banned because national teams, particularly Poland, said they would not play them. They may have to do so again to ensure there can be no way back for the sporting representation of Putin’s regime.
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Otherwise it is over to the marionettes of a sport which increasingly appears devoid of ethical logic – case in point, the plot to build new stadiums in Gaza, allied with Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. Palestine had perfectly functioning grounds of its own until they were destroyed in US-backed IDF bombardments.
As for whether the Kremlin is to be appeased, Russia’s U17s have already been allowed back into competitive action. While Moscow continues to pulverise cities, Volodymyr Zelensky believes Trump, the political face of the summer’s men’s World Cup, could have ended the war.
That leaves the current football ecosystem woefully out of step with the rest of the world.
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