SCOTLAND FACES UKRAINE HOLDING SYMPATHY CARD
Two countries have their own reasons for badly wanting this World Cup qualifier
Under normal circumstances, a playoff to determine one of the final spots in the World Cup draw would put Scotland clearly in the role of lovable underdog.
The Scots have not been in the World Cup since 1998, have won just four World Cup matches in their history, and, until last summer's appearance in the Euros, hadn't made that tournament for 24 years either.
This dearth of major-tournament appearances was made worse by the fact that other smaller European nations like Croatia and Wales have had thrilling runs in recent years. Even wee Iceland made a go of it for a while there.
For a neutral, there is a lot to like about a possible Scottish dash to Qatar, considering all that they have given us, from whisky to Sean Connery to brooding detective dramas. (I should note here that, despite my first name, I am not particularly Scottish, so far as I know.) Who wouldn't get behind the plucky Scots?
Well, yes, about that.
There is a clear lovable underdog in the World Cup playoff on Wednesday, but it is not Scotland. The Scots are playing Ukraine.
That this match is happening this week, rather than earlier in the spring, is of course why Ukraine will be much supported by neutrals.
Their country was invaded by Russia shortly before the last World Cup qualifying window opened, and in a rare moment of good sense from FIFA, it was decided that the Ukrainian national team would not be forced to play soccer matches while the players were in many cases scrambling to get family members, if not themselves, out of harm's way.
The rest of the European playoff matches took place, the World Cup draw was held, and Scotland-ukraine was put off until June. (The winner will face Wales, which won a semifinal of its own during the last window.)
This has, rather obviously, made quite a sympathetic case for Ukraine.
Given all that country has undergone in recent months, a surprise World Cup berth would be a little bit of happy news for its people.
It is, again rather obviously, nothing compared to the devastation some of its cities and people have suffered, but it would at least be a boost to the national psyche.
That the soccer team is even available to play at Glasgow's Hampden Park this week is a feat in itself.
Club teams like Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv cancelled all of their matches after Russia invaded in late February, and Ukraine-based national-team players resumed training at a camp in Slovenia only in early May.
Teammates who played elsewhere in Europe, like Oleksandr Zinchenko of Manchester City, only joined them after their club seasons ended, in some cases just a few days ago.
Ukraine's national team hasn't played a competitive match since last November, and even a scheduled friendly match against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Belgium last week was called off over security concerns.
It is hard to imagine a scenario in which Ukraine's players, extremely rusty in a soccer sense and with ongoing worries about the very future of their country in a human sense, manage to piece together a cohesive response against a Scottish side that is on something of a roll, having dispatched Denmark in Glasgow in a last-gasp chance to secure the World Cup playoff spot.
But it is also hard to know what Hampden Park will be like on Wednesday night.
Normally a home crowd could be expected to be both supportive of its own side and massively antagonistic toward the visitors, but it would difficult to work up much vitriol against the Ukrainian team at this point.
There is also a larger geopolitical point being made with this match: Ukraine is in it, a sign of its wide acceptance and support among the rest of the world, and Russia is not, having been booted from World Cup qualifying because of its aggression toward its neighbour, in another rare moment of good sense from FIFA.
Scotland will have to be wary of the potential for tentative play against a team toward which it is sympathetic.
Captain Andy Robertson, the Liverpool fullback, said this week that “what we have seen (in Ukraine) is horrendous,” but that during the game, his team must “separate our thoughts” from all that.
“We want to get to the World Cup; we have to be ready for the challenge and emotion Ukraine will provide.”
And so, this most unusual of clashes.
A team in Scotland that is desperate to get to Qatar, to take what would be another big step toward putting the recent fallow decades behind it.
And a team in Ukraine that could not be more distracted by issues outside of soccer, given what is happening at home, but yet could also be dramatically motivated because of it.
If Ukraine pulls off the upset, and then another against Wales, you could pencil in the Hollywood premiere of the film version for about 24 months from now.
They will play in front of a crowd that, one hopes, will figure out how to strike the balance between cheering their own, saluting their opponents, and metaphorically raising a finger to the Russians who aren't welcome.
Over to you, Glaswegians.