World Cup play-offs | Oleksandr Zinchenko wants to bring joy to Ukrainians

(Glasgow) The Ukraine team, which meets Scotland on Wednesday in the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup, “wants to give incredible emotions to the Ukrainians because they deserve it at the moment”, the Manchester defender said on Tuesday. City Oleksandr Zinchenko, bursting into tears when discussing the situation in his country.

“All Ukrainians want only one thing, that this war ends,” said the Manchester City player at a press conference.

“The Ukrainian team also has its own dream, to go to the World Cup. She wants to give incredible emotions to the Ukrainians because they deserve it right now,” Zinchenko added on the eve of his team’s first official match since the invasion of his country by Russian troops.

The game between Scotland and Ukraine in Glasgow was originally scheduled to take place in March but was postponed after the dispute began. The winner of the match will face Wales in Cardiff on June 5 to win a ticket for the World Cup organized in Qatar at the end of the year.

“It’s impossible to describe how we feel. What is happening in our country is unacceptable. We must stop this aggression, all together. Ukraine is a country of freedom, I will never give up,” added the City player, who said he considered joining the Ukrainian army to defend his country.

Zinchenko joined in Slovenia, to prepare these dams, the players of Ukrainian clubs authorized to leave the country. He was accompanied by other expatriate Ukrainian players like Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham) and Roman Yaremchuk (Benfica).

But “it is clearly difficult to motivate the team for a game when all the players are thinking of their families in Ukraine,” said coach Oleksandr Petrakov.

“We use all sorts of methods, we even make jokes to keep up morale, but every player feels the enormity of the task we have before us on Wednesday. There is a lot of stress but we will do our best to succeed,” added Petrakov.