Coach Oleg Dulub commented on Ukraine’s draw in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Azerbaijan (1:1).
Oleg Dulub“First of all, a negative result, in my opinion. I compared the starting lineups for transfer value as I usually do. Azerbaijan has 8.4 million euros, while Ukraine has 179.2 million euros. That’s more than 20 times more. And you understand that in terms of player quality, Ukraine outperformed the Azerbaijanis.
Regarding the plus-minus perspective — it’s good that we didn’t play against Iceland now. I watched their match against France yesterday. If we had played against them instead of Azerbaijan, Ukraine would have had very little chance of winning. Iceland is currently in a good state, a very aggressive and compact team. But anything can happen in a month.
But it’s good that Iceland didn’t win against the French, as that goal was canceled in the 89th minute. This worked in favor of Ukraine. So now the chances are slim for direct qualification, but decent — in case of two victories over Iceland to reach the playoff matches.
Can Rebrov still salvage the situation? As I said, nothing is lost. There are good chances for the playoff matches if in a month, in the direct confrontation, Ukraine wins against Iceland. How the coaching staff prepares will depend solely on them,” said Dulub.
