Ukraine’s World Cup dream ends in Wales
CARDIFF, Wales — Ukraine’s players wept in the rain while applauding their dejected supporters after missing out on qualifying for the World Cup by losing 1-0 to Wales on Sunday in Europe’s last playoff for the FIFA soccer showpiece.
The agonizing moment came in the 34th minute when Andriy Yarmolenko inadvertently headed the ball into his own net while trying to clear Wales captain Gareth Bale’s free kick.
While Wales heads to a first World Cup in 64 years — opening against the United States in November — this was a game too far for Ukraine’s emotionally charged mission to qualify for Qatar while remaining under invasion by Russia.
“We did everything that we could,” coach Oleksandr Petrakov said through an interpreter, “but I really want the people of Ukraine to remember our team’s efforts.”
Petrakov’s priority is ensuring the suffering at home is not forgotten by the world.
“We have war raging all over the country,” Petrakov said. “We have
children and women dying on a daily basis. Our infrastructure is being ruined by Russian barbarians. The Russians want to hurt us, but the Ukrainians are resisting and defending their land. We just want your support. We just want to you to understand what is happening back home.”
Back home, on the 102nd day of the war, Ukrainians took respite from the pain and suffering by watching the game from Cardiff in bars, including in Kyiv. The war and missile strikes earlier Sunday in Ukraine’s capital put an obvious damper on any party mood for the match.
“People in the battlefields watched this on their phones,” said Dmytro Leshehenko, an architect who watched the match in a bar and said he had friends serving in the armed forces.
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