Former forward of several Ukrainian clubs Maxim Feshchuk shared his thoughts on Ukraine’s national team’s victory over Iceland (5:3) in the latest round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and also shared his expectations for tomorrow’s match of the Ukrainian national team against Azerbaijan.
Maxim Feshchuk’Evaluation of the national team’s play in the match against Iceland — 10/10, positive. They psychologically turned around the situation in the tournament table, played a quality match overall, with certain issues in defense, in ball control, but they gained three credit points, which is the most important.
I also want to add that I received immense pleasure from the Icelandic national team’s play. I enjoyed the result of this game even more because I did not expect Iceland to be such a high-quality team in ball play.
Voloshyn? Here we need to talk about Sudakov’s unfortunate injury (it was Voloshyn who replaced him, — ed. note). Indeed, until Sudakov left the field, he was one of Ukraine’s best. Ball control... Voloshyn is more of a player in space, Sudakov is more of a player on the ball. They are both very high-quality footballers. For me, Sudakov is the highest level in our national team. And Voloshyn came on, scored goals — that’s what’s needed. He showed why he is on the national team.
In the match against Azerbaijan, I expect changes and adaptation to a difficult opponent who plays very deep, low in defense. We need to thoroughly analyze the game where we couldn’t 'open' them. Let’s say it’s very tough. They play with a low block. Well, I also expected Dovbyk in the starting lineup from the first game. We need to keep shooting, pressing, and taking our points.
But with the current spirit in the Ukrainian national team, with the atmosphere, with the result it showed (in the match against Iceland, — ed. note), there is very strong confidence in the next game, in terms of the result.
In such a match, Kalyuzhny can be very useful in a low block, in terms of play from above, on set pieces, his benefit can be very great, colossal. And look, he shoots from a long distance and scores. And here is the ball, and in the championship against Shakhtar, he scored a goal, shooting from outside the penalty area. But there is a coach, there is a choice, there is a plan for the game, there is a strategy, so I look forward to it with impatience,' said Feshchuk.
