Manchester City left-back, Oleksandr Zinchenko will finally have the opportunity to fight for his country, Ukraine. But this time around, the war will be on the pitch against Scotland’s national team, not Russia.
Just like how Ukrainians are battling to survive the ongoing Russian invasion of their country, the national team of Ukraine must beat Scotland later today, June 1, 2022. The match will kick off at 19:45 at Hampden Park, Glasgow.
Note that the World Cup play-off should have been played long before now but had to be postponed due to ongoing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been bombarding the country killing scores of Ukrainians and destroying their properties.
The invasion which started in February has attracted the attention of virtually every sector of the world, forcing the western world to slam different degrees of sanctions on Russians.
As it stands, Ukraine national team would have to forget about the war in their country for at least 90 minutes while they battle to earn the country a World Cup ticket in Glasgow tonight.
Ahead of the must-win game, Oleksandr Zinchenko, the country’s 25-year-old left-back who recently won the Premier League title with Manchester City, said “Every Ukrainian wants one thing – to stop this war,” as he burst into tears while addressing the press in the pre-match press conference.
“I spoke to people from different countries, all over the world and I spoke to some Ukrainian kids who just don’t understand what’s happening back in Ukraine”, Oleksandr Zinchenko said.
“They only want the war to stop. They have one dream to stop the war.
“When it comes to football, the team, we have our dream. We want to go to the World Cup, want to give these incredible emotions to the Ukrainians because they deserve it so much at this very moment.”
🗣️ “Every Ukrainian has the main dream to stop the war.”
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 31, 2022
Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko struggles to hold back the tears as he talks about Russia’s conflict with Ukraine 💛💙 pic.twitter.com/tHiTvwEYIJ
Scotland to support Oleksandr Zinchenko and his Ukrainian teammates
Despite being a must-win match for both Scotland and Ukraine, Scotland which happened to be the host country would support the war-torn country by sharing song sheets with home fans so they can join in the Ukrainian national anthem.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is blown away by the kind of reception Ukraine’s national team received in Glasgow and had no choice but to appreciate their opponents’ support.
“I would like to say as well that a lot of countries maybe don’t understand that – today it is Ukraine but tomorrow it can be you”, Zinchenko said.
“So that’s why we need to be united and need to defeat aggression altogether.
“I am sure that the whole of Ukraine will be watching us. We will feel the support.
“We can talk a lot, but we need to prove everything on the field. We will try to make our people happy and proud.”
🗣️”It is going to be so emotional. Everyone is going to give everything. Our nation is never going to give up.”
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 1, 2022
Oleksandr Zinchenko looks ahead to tonight’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Scotland.pic.twitter.com/lr4JbJd9t5
