Congratulations to Ukraine, then, who will meet Wales in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon to see who’s off to Qatar in November. Commiserations to Scotland, whose long wait for a ninth appearance at the World Cup finals goes on. Thoughts turn to the Nations League, and upcoming games against Armenia and the Republic of Ireland. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Steve Clarke gives his verdict to Sky. “It was a disappointing night. You have to be honest and say the best team on the night won. Congratulations to Ukraine. I wish them luck when they go to Cardiff, but also you have to wish the Welsh luck as well, it should be a great game. Unfortunately we’re not involved. First half we didn’t play enough, we didn’t get the ball down. We made a change at half time but didn’t give ourselves chance to utilise it as we went 2-0 down. After that, we gave it a go. John McGinn missed a big chance that would have given us half an hour to chase the 2-1. We got the goal eventually and we chased it well, we tried as hard as we could. They defended with their lives. It was Ukraine’s night and not Scotland’s. Now is the night to suffer. But we can’t forget the strides we have made over the last couple of years. We have to start building for the next campaign, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Ewan Murray was at Hampden tonight, and his report has landed. Here it is. Reaction from Steve Clarke still to come.
Andy Robertson, who has endured a miserable end to the season with both club and country, talks to Sky. “Hugely disappointing. We’ve waited a long time for this game. Our performances before this game were really good, but today we didn’t really show up. Ukraine settled into the game quicker than us, and it kind of continued. We knew they were going to get tired, and that was the case, but we gave ourselves too much of an uphill battle. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play, and that’s the most disappointing thing. It’s passed us by now, and after a really positive campaign, we’ve let ourselves down tonight. We have to hurt, reflect, that’s the World Cup gone for another four years, and that’s really harsh. But we have to stick together as a group. All we can say is sorry to the fans for disappointing them, but we’ll dust ourselves down and go again.”
The magnificent Oleksandr Zinchenko speaks to Sky. “To be fair, obviously everyone knows the situation in Ukraine, and every single game for us is like a final game. But we dream like a team to be at the World Cup, and we have one more game, one more final, and we need to win it, we need to take it, otherwise this game is not going to mean anything. We played quite well, apart from maybe 20 minutes in the second half. Scotland is a great team. They play an open game, not our style, but we did well, scoring three goals and we could have scored another. Wales is going to be a massive game for us. We need to show the best performance in our lives, and we’ll see what will happen.”
Ukraine’s fans stay behind at Hampden and give it plenty. As they did before the match. If ever some supporters deserved something to cheer about, here they are.
To a man, Ukraine race over to their fans to celebrate. It’s a heartwarming result that keeps their World Cup dream alive, and gives everyone suffering back home a little succour. What a lovely moment. It’s no more than they deserve, either: they were the best team for the vast majority of the game, and could have scored a few more. Simply a class above Scotland, who nevertheless rediscovered their mojo in the closing stages and gave it a good go. Scotland are a team trending in the right direction, but there’s still some way to go, and their wait for a first 21st-century appearance at the World Cup goes on.
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FULL TIME: Scotland 1-3 Ukraine
Ukraine will play Wales in Cardiff on Sunday for a place at the 2022 World Cup!
GOAL! Scotland 1-3 Ukraine (Dovbyk 90+5)
Scotland launch one last Hail Mary. Ukraine clear. Zinchenko sends Dovbyk clear into the Scottish half. He draws Gordon and whips into the bottom left!
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90 min +4: Zubkov, Mudryk and Shaparenko waste a three-on-one break. Ukraine are doing their level best to keep Scotland afloat.
90 min +3: ... but time really isn’t on their side, not least because Ukraine spend the next minute replacing Stepanenko with Sydorchuk.
90 min +2: Zinchenko grooves down the middle and slips a pass into the box for Zubkov, who is one on one with Gordon. He’s surely going to seal it for Ukraine ... but he whistles his shot wide left! Scotland’s faint hopes remain.
90 min +1: Adams works hard down the left to win a corner. McGinn swings it into the mixer. Hanley rises highest but can only send a weak header miles wide right.
90 min: Scotland have almost certainly left it too late, haven’t they? They’ve got four added minutes to salvage this.
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88 min: Adams chases a long pass down the right. Ukraine are light in defence, but the striker’s poor control lets them off. Another goal kick.
87 min: Hickey throws in from the right to McGinn, who has the opportunity of returning the ball down the flank and sending his young team-mate clear. McGinn gets too much on the pass it’s a goal kick for Ukraine. The clock ticks on.
85 min: Armstrong drives a cross in from the right. Robertson, coming in from the other flank, opts to trap before shooting. Bad choice. He’s closed down, and the chance is gone.
84 min: ... so instead, Hickey and McGinn try a clever short one, and there goes the chance to put the flapping keeper under more pressure.
83 min: Ukraine are rattled for the first time this evening. Shaparenko is booked for a clumsy challenge on Christie, and it’s a free kick out on the right. A chance to swing one in over the head of the nervous Bushchan!
82 min: Nothing comes of the corner that resulted from McGregor’s hope-salvaging challenge. That was a simply astonishing passage of play.
81 min: McGregor, having just got Scotland back into the game, keeps them in it! Scotland win a corner. Robertson’s delivery isn’t the best. Ukraine clear. Suddenly they’re two on one! Zubkov creams a pass down the middle to release Dovbyk, who is one on one with Gordon. Hampden falls silent. Dovbyk cocks his leg back to shoot ... only for McGregor to turn up and nick the ball off his toe! What an intervention!
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GOAL! Scotland 1-2 Ukraine (McGregor 79)
Armstrong crosses. McTominay challenges Bushchan, who flaps again. The ball drops to McGregor, just to the left of the D. McGregor shoots. Bushchan again flaps, letting the ball squirt through his hands. It bounces into the top right, just over the line, Matvienko unable to hook clear in time. This is back on!
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78 min: Ukraine replace their goalscorers. Off go Yarmolenko and Yaremchuk, on come Zubkov and Dovbyk.
76 min: Adams dribbles into the Ukraine box from the right. With five yellow shirts in front of him, he does well to power a shot through the thicket of defenders. Bushchan parries. McGinn latches onto the loose ball. His shot is deflected out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Scotland have finally woken up, but have they left it too late?
75 min: Shaparenko shovels a pass down the inside-left channel that nearly releases Zinchenko into the Scotland box. Not quite. Scotland again living dangerously.
73 min: McTominay and Christie ping a couple of quickfire passes down the middle, the ball breaking to Armstrong, who sends a pea-roller straight at Bushchan from the edge of the box.
72 min: Now Tsygankov drops a shoulder to come in from the left. He shoots. Gordon parries. That’s Tsyganov’s last act of the evening: he’s replaced by Mudryk, while Malinovskyi makes way for Shaparenko.
70 min: One goal for Scotland could change everything. A third for Ukraine would end it. And having come so close to getting back into the game, Scotland are in danger of shipping another, McTominay gifting possession to Zinchenko, who nearly dances his way through what remains of the Scottish back line. Hampden feared the worst there.
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68 min: McGinn drops to his knees and punches the turf. Still, that’s much better from the Scots, who send on Hendry and Armstrong in place of Cooper and Gilmour.
67 min: The ball drops to McToiminay, just inside the Ukraine box on the right. He traps and shoots. Matvienko blocks. Scotland come again. Christie feeds McTominay down the right. McTominay’s cross is fumbled by Bushchan. The ball drops to McGinn, six yards out. He must score! He tries to steer his header into the bottom right ... and watches in horror as the ball sails inches wide of the post. What a chance!
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66 min: Scotland are beginning to spend a little more time in the Ukraine half, but to little effect. The visitors hold their shape. Gilmour eventually passes the ball out of play under no pressure whatsoever.
64 min: A little bit of space for Adams down the right. He crosses. There’s nobody anywhere near in blue. “Got to hand it to them, this is selfless from Scotland.” Some tinder-dry humour from Simon McMahon, right there.
62 min: Hickey, who is enduring his debut, tries to find Christie in the middle with a low cross. The crowd groan. Then they roar as Adams feeds Christie in on the left. Christie shoots towards the bottom left. An effort on target! But Bushchan smothers, and the flag goes up for offside anyway. That’s got the crowd back onside, for a while, if nothing else.
60 min: Cooper flips Yarmolenko into the air, and is very fortunate to escape censure. Scotland are a ragged mess.
58 min: The Hampden crowd are beeling. First up, Yaremchuk nearly makes it three but his shot-cum-cross from the right dribbles inches wide of the left-hand post. Then McGinn slides in on Stepanenko and is booked for his trouble. Nothing’s going right for Scotland right now, and the home fans aren’t shy in voicing their displeasure.
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56 min: Scotland are nearly gifted a route back into the game! Bushchan dithers over an admittedly poor backpass, and is closed down by McGregor. His clearing kick ricochets back off McGregor and nearly flies into the goal. Inches away from a total fiasco!
55 min: Tsygankov strides down the left and wins a corner off McTominay. The corner’s sent long. Karavaev whips an ambitious effort over the bar from 25 yards. The home crowd aren’t happy with Scotland’s inability to retain possession at all.
54 min: Yaremchuk overpowers Hanley down the left. Hanley falls over and sends the ball whistling out for a corner. The Hampden faithful demand a free kick, but Hanley was simply outmuscled, that’s all.
52 min: Ukraine are stroking it around imperiously now. Yarmolenko dances down the inside-right channel and creams a shot towards the bottom right. Gordon does well to get down and block, but this is beginning to get ominous for Scotland. A few boos ring around Hampden as a result.
50 min: That was a delightfully calm finish. Scotland are in big bother now. This scoreline doesn’t flatter Ukraine at all.
GOAL! Scotland 0-2 Ukraine (Yaremchuk 49)
Yarmolenko dribbles down the right, reaches the touchline, and cuts back for Karavaev. A cross to the far stick. Yaremchuk rises easily over Hickey, a total mismatch, and guides a header back across Gordon and into the bottom right. So easy.
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48 min: Tsygankov rolls a pass down the left for Yaremchuk, who very nearly gets past Hanley and into the box. Hanley does well to hold his line and shepherd him away from danger.
46 min: Christie is immediately in the thick of it, striding past Mykolenko and rolling a pass towards the in-flight McGregor, romping down the middle. But a promising attack is brought to a halt by the referee, who spots Christie’s sly nudge forward with his arm.
Ukraine get the second half underway. Scotland have made a change, and it’s not a particularly surprising one. Dykes, ineffectual and on a booking, has been replaced by Christie.
Half-time reconnaissance. Ben Fisher was at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, and his report on the Welsh warm-up for Sunday’s big one has landed.
HALF TIME: Scotland 0-1 Ukraine
A few boos from the home crowd as Scotland traipse off. It’s not that they’ve been particularly bad; it’s just that Ukraine have been demonstrably better. As things stand, Ukraine will travel to Cardiff to play Wales for a place in Qatar.
45 min: Dykes clumsily elbows Stepanenko on the back of the head as the pair contest a high ball. A no-brainer of a yellow card.
44 min: Malinovskyi drags a shot wide right from distance. He should have played Tsygankov clear down the inside-left channel instead. A fine chance to double Ukraine’s lead spurned.
42 min: Some good work by Hickey and Gilmour down the right. The ball’s cut back for McGregor, whose low drive is deflected towards McGinn, just inside the Ukraine box on the right. McGinn tries to round Matvienko, but the Ukraine defender slides in gracefully to scoop the ball off his toe and clear. The crowd wanted a first-time shot from a tight angle. One touch too many.
40 min: Zinchenko has the opportunity to send Yaremchuk clear down the middle, but doesn’t quite get enough juice on the pass and it’s intercepted by McTominay. On the touchline, Steve Clarke continues to exude calm, though he’s got a big half-time team-talk coming up.
38 min: Gilmour finds the full debutant Hickey in space down the right. Hickey floats a cross into the box. Easy pickings for Bushchan in the Ukraine goal.
36 min: Yarmolenko’s goal sucked a good proportion of the atmosphere out of Hampden back there, but after a couple of contemplative minutes, the crowd have rediscovered their voice.
34 min: That had been coming. Ukraine could have scored a couple already, and now they’ve got their reward.
GOAL! Scotland 0-1 Ukraine (Yarmolenko 33)
Scotland’s back three are all over the shop. Malinovskyi passes long down the middle. Yarmolenko, played onside by Hanley, chases clear of Cooper, taking the ball down with one touch, opening his body, and sending a sidefooted lob over the out-rushing Gordon and into the unguarded net!
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32 min: Ukraine have enjoyed 58 percent of possession so far. No great surprise there.
31 min: Ukraine suddenly step up the tempo again, Zinchenko winning a corner down the left. The busy Dykes drops back to make sure nothing comes of it.
30 min: Ukraine spend a little time passing the ball around the back, reducing the pace for the first time this evening.
28 min: Dykes wriggles his way out of a tight spot in his own half and looks long for Adams down the right. Adams collects, turns, then attempts to release the rampaging Robertson through the middle. The pass isn’t up to standard, but once again that’s a decent situation crafted out of very little, and it’ll give Scotland heart.
27 min: Make that five attempts for Ukraine: Yarmolenko hoicks a speculative shot miles over the bar from distance.
26 min: Ukraine by contrast have taken four attempts on goal as well, but two of them have been on target, forcing Gordon into action. Meanwhile here’s Justin Kavanagh with a message from a galaxy far, far away: “Zut8-Bilbremza from the planet Joojordinnoggin 74 here, and that earthling Ally McCoist is talking through his holohoopgram. Come on the Scots!”
24 min: Scotland are getting some joy down this left flank. McGregor makes his way down the wing and cuts back for McGinn, who flashes a first-time shot high and wide. That’s Scotland’s fourth attempt on goal, though they’ve yet to get any of them on target.
23 min: ... but this is a good response by Scotland. First Adams goes over in the box as he tries to get on the end of an aimless left-wing cross. It’s never a penalty, but Robertson is soon coming back down his wing. He drops a shoulder to get into the box but delivers neither shot nor cross. The resulting corner is a waste of time.
22 min: Ukraine are also beginning to dominate. Dykes tries to change the flow of the game by sending a long pass down the left for Robertson. It’s not quite accurate enough. A little bit of territorial relief for Scotland, if nothing else.
20 min: Scotland don’t clear the corner, and soon enough Yaremchuk is snatching at a shot from ten yards. The ball fizzes wide right. Ukraine are beginning to carve out chances.
19 min: Another brilliant Gordon intervention! Zinchenko barges McTominay off the ball with indecent ease and launches a quick attack. Tsygankov nearly bursts clear down the inside-left channel, but before he can control and shoot, Gordon is out quickly to divert the ball out for a corner.
18 min: Scotland go up the other end, Robertson winning their first corner of the game. The ball’s sent into the mixer, where Hanley heads harmlessly over. It’s an entertaining game.
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17 min: Ukraine bustle their way down the left. The ball ricochets into the Scotland box, and the home defence doesn’t deal with it. Suddenly Yarmolenko is free on the penalty spot! He spins and shoots. Gordon gets down to stick out an arm, then smother heroically before Yarmolenko can ram the loose ball home. Another astonishing save from the in-form Hearts keeper!
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16 min: Robertson tries to release McGinn down the left with a quick throw, but Karavaev comes across quickly to shield the ball out of play. Flower of Scotland meanwhile gets another good airing in the stands.
14 min: Adams drifts in from the right and has the opportunity to play Dykes in down the middle. The pass is no good, but the situation was, and that’ll give Scotland heart. “It will be interesting to see how Scotland manage to cope with being in England’s usual situation of the rest of the world hoping that they lose,” quips Stuart Rarity.
12 min: Dykes nearly gets a head onto Robertson’s left wing cross. Not quite. Both teams will be happy enough with the way they’ve started.
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11 min: Malinovskyi goes into the book for booting Dykes up the arse. Tommy Gemmell would have been proud of that one.
9 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
8 min: What a save by Gordon! Karavaev crosses low from the right. Yaremchuk tees up Tsygankov, who from the edge of the box sends a rising screamer goalwards. Gordon tips over. It might have been heading over anyway, but that was hit with such venom that he couldn’t take the risk of leaving it. Wonderful football all round.
7 min: McGregor comes clattering into the back of Malinovskyi. It’s just a free kick, though a couple of Ukrainians wonder why the Scotland midfielder isn’t going into the book as well. Lucky boy.
5 min: A little bit of space for Tsygankov down the Ukraine left. His ball rolled inside is cleared by the Scottish defence. Yaremchuk tries to retrieve it with a ludicrous sliding challenge on Gilmour, and he’ll have to spend the rest of this highly charged evening on a deserved yellow card.
4 min: It’s been a high-octane start by Scotland, who are buzzing around all over the place. Dykes hares after McTominay’s speculative ball down the middle but is never likely to get there.
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2 min: Sky co-commentator Ally McCoist has already delivered the zinger of the evening. “Just about everybody on the planet doesn’t want us to win. In fact, there’s probably people on other planets who don’t want us to win.” That registers a top score of 11 on our patented National Treasure-o-meter.
Amid the hubbub, the referee’s whistle can just about be heard. Scotland, in their famous dark blue, kick off! Ukraine resplendent in yellow.
Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля. The teams take to the field of play. A trademark Hampden Roar. Ukraine’s players emerge, every man draped in their country’s flag. The national anthem of Ukraine rings around Hampden, sung loudly and proudly, and with great determination. Hundreds of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags aloft in the stands. A riot of colour and glorious noise, some beautiful bedlam. All four corners of Hampden respond with thundering applause.
Ukraine has not yet perished, nor her glory, nor her freedom,
Upon us, fellow Ukrainians, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies shall vanish, like the dew in the sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.
Souls and bodies we’ll lay down, all for our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Cossack nation.
... and tell you what, Flower of Scotland isn’t half belted out with feeling as well. What an atmosphere! We’ll be off in a minute.
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Scotland coach Steve Clarke talks to Sky. “It’s nice to finally have the game here. It’s obviously great that the Ukrainian team have managed to get themselves in shape. We look forward to a group game. They were unbeaten in their group against the world champions France, which tells you everything about them. We know they’re a good team, and we’ve prepared to play against a good team.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko of Ukraine and Manchester City speaks to Sky. “When this started on 24 February, nobody was thinking about football, or that this game was going to happen. It’s impossible to describe when you are in this position. As footballers, we have unbelievable lives, we have family, we have facilities, everything around us. But there are people struggling and suffering, it is impossible to describe. My mission is to try to help Ukrainian people as much as I can, to make them proud that they are Ukrainian, that they will live in freedom, and that our nation is never going to give up. Everyone is going to give everything.”
Bulging pre-match postbag. “Come on Ukraine!’” begins Shaun Tooze. “I would normally want Scotland to win this but having been displaced from Ukraine to Poland with the beautiful lady and our cat, her family (still there) are asking who I am supporting tonight, so, despite my love for Andy Robertson (Liverpool man) I’m going for Ukraine. What else can I do? Either way, I think it’ll be emotional and probably go all the way to penalties. (We’re still stuck in Poland by the way, because some people in the UK can’t get their heads out of their arses and give us permission for the beautiful dumbass cat.)”
For the purposes of balance, Simon McMahon adds: “What’s happening in Ukraine is bad, really bad, and I wish all their players, staff, families and supporters well - but this is the World Cup, baby. COME ON SCOTLAND!!!”
It’s going to be an emotional night for everyone involved. Libby Brooks reports from Hampden, where Scottish and Ukrainian supporters have literally banded together in solidarity. Take it away, everyone.
Scots have been incredible from the moment the war started. They have rallied round and put their arms around Ukraine.
The winner of this tie will play Wales in Cardiff on Sunday. The Welsh will be going into that one on the back of a decent performance but a disappointing result in Wroclaw, having just lost 2-1 to Poland in their opening match in Nations League Group A4. Jonny Williams opened the scoring on 52 minutes with a fine long-range dipper, but Jakub Kaminski equalised 20 minutes later, and Karol Swiderski completed the comeback with five minutes to go. Rob Page had understandably left the big guns out - no Gareth Bale, for example - so won’t be too concerned ahead of the big one.
There’s a first start tonight for Aaron Hickey, the latest in Scotland’s seemingly never-ending line of highly promising left-backs. That’s captain Andrew Robertson’s beat, though, so Hickey moves across from his normal position with Bologna to the right, where he replaces Stephen O’Donnell. Liam Cooper stands in for the injured Kieran Tierney on the left side of the back three, while Lyndon Dykes pairs up with Che Adams up front.
The teams
Scotland: Gordon, McTominay, Hanley, Cooper, Hickey, Gilmour, McGregor, Robertson, McGinn, Adams, Dykes.
Subs: Hendry, McKenna, Marshall, Ferguson, Brown, Stewart, Kelly, Souttar, Armstrong, Christie, O’Donnell, Taylor.
Ukraine: Bushchan, Karavayev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko, Stepanenko, Yarmolenko, Malinovsky, Zinchenko, Tsygankov, Yaremchuk.
Subs: Riznyk, Dovbyk, Bondar, Kacharaba, Pyatov, Mudryk, Syrota, Sydorchuk, Sobol, Shaparenko, Pikhalyonok, Zubkov.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Dordrecht).
Preamble
The world’s eyes are on Hampden as Ukraine’s men’s football team play their first game since the invasion of their country by Vladimir Putin. This World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final was due to be played in March, but the conflict led to its postponement. Many of Ukraine’s men were called up to the army, but Oleksandr Petrakov’s team were given special dispensation to prepare for this rearranged fixture at a training camp in Brdo, Slovenia. Now they’re looking to give their folks back home a little joy by qualifying for the finals in Qatar. “We are going to try to make them happy and proud,” says Oleksandr Zinchenko. “I’m pretty sure that all in Ukraine who have this opportunity is going to watch us, and we are going to feel this support 100 percent.”
The awful backdrop to this game might not help Scotland attract many neutral viewers this evening. But they will have a packed and partisan Hampden roaring behind them. While Ukraine are looking to add to their one and only appearance at the World Cup, in 2006, Scotland have dreams of their own, hoping to make it for the first time since 1998. History is on their side: they’ve made it to the finals on eight previous occasions, and have emerged triumphant from both of their qualification play-offs, against Wales in 1977 and Australia in 1985. Ukraine have yet to progress from any play-offs, after five attempts. Scotland have also won the one and only meeting between the teams in Glasgow: 3-1 in 2007.
The winner of tonight’s match will face Wales in the play-off final on Sunday. May the best team win, and whatever the result, Scotland stands with Ukraine. Kick off is at 7.45pm BST.
