World Cup playoffs in live stream: The last semi-final in the fight for World Cup participation is coming up. The Ukraine national team takes on Scotland in Glasgow on Wednesday. Here we tell you where you can watch the game online.
A clear majority of the neutral fans should keep their fingers crossed for the Ukraine national team on Wednesday evening. But in the semi-finals of the World Cup playoffs, there is no easy opponent waiting. Despite all the sympathy for the opponent, the Scottish national team will also do everything in their power to reach the final themselves in order to keep their chance of participating in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The game kicks off at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday evening. If you want to follow the game live, you should tune in to DAZN. The streaming service shows the encounter exclusively.
Scotland – Ukraine
06/01/2022 | 8:45 p.m
Oleksandr Zinchenko can hardly calm down. “I’m shaking inside,” the Ukraine international told the BBC. The 25-year-old’s agitation these days is not the result of shocking reports from his homeland, which is suffering from the Russian war of aggression. On the contrary. Zinchenko wants to qualify with Ukraine for the soccer World Cup in Qatar and give his compatriots “perhaps a smile for a few seconds”.
On Wednesday (8.45 p.m. / DAZN) Ukraine will play Scotland in Hampden Park in Glasgow. If Zinchenko and Co. win their first competitive game since the outbreak of war at the end of February, they will play for the last European World Cup ticket in Wales on Sunday. “This game is one of the most important in my life. The guys look ready and there is no need to talk about motivation at all,” said Zinchenko. At the World Cup, his team would meet England, Iran and the USA.
These are still distant dreams. And even if the Ukrainian players are highly motivated and certainly have the support of all neutral fans in the world, Scotland will not simply accept their fate. In addition, the preparation of the team was not normal in line with the situation. The team have been training in Slovenia for the past few days at the invitation of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, but the fate of their families has made it difficult for many to focus on football. In addition, some professionals have not played a game for several months. “But in this case there are no excuses,” stressed Zinchenko.
The Manchester City pro knows what it’s like to be a folk hero in his homeland. Last summer, the blond boy led the outsider to the quarter-finals of the European Championship with one goal and one assist. Not even a year later, the pictures from back then seem like they are from another time. “When the war started, it was difficult to focus on football,” Zinchenko said. All his thoughts were with the Ukrainians. His national team colleague Andriy Jarmolenko (32), who plays for West Ham, had a similar experience: “It’s so difficult to think about football at the moment. The Russian army is killing people in Ukraine every day.”
The game in Scotland and the possible climax in Wales should certainly also be a sign to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Ukraine is still alive. Ukraine will fight to the end. That’s our mentality. We never give up,” stressed Zinchenko. Words that could have come from its President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
In Hampden Park, the great support in the stands will probably be missing. Ukrainian men are not allowed to leave their homeland because of the war, one hopes for Ukrainian exiles living in Great Britain. The jerseys that the team recently wore at the benefit game in Mönchengladbach are banned in the World Cup playoffs because of the political message. So Zinchenko and his teammates will play in the jerseys of the last European Championship. A little piece of the peaceful and joyful past.
