Journalist Mykhailo Spivakovskyi attempted to predict the starting lineup of the Ukrainian national team in the World Cup 2026 qualifying match against Iceland.
Mykhailo Spivakovskyi«1. All who were rested against France will be in the starting lineup. This does not apply to the untouchables (and without cards) Trubin and Zabarnyi. Thus, we immediately have 7 starting players: the goalkeeper + the entire defense + Kalyuzhny and Malinovskyi. From here, we need to guess.
2. It’s not difficult with Tsyhankov. Obviously, Vanat should come out (Yaremchuk returned not so long ago and ran a lot without the ball against France). Although without Buialskiy the quick forward of Girona is more suited for counter play, not positional football. Now we have 9 starting players.
3. The second insider (after Sudakov’s injury) would be I would place Yarmolyuk: especially since he can be considered the second defensive midfielder. But there are big doubts.
a) After the EPL Yehor is not as vertical as in Dnipro-1. And we need to pursue a well-parked bus.
b) Yarmolyuk was not substituted for a long time against France.
Given the absence of Ocheretko in the lineup, I dare to assume that the conservative Rebrov will bet on Shaparenko, who was allowed to stretch his legs in Paris.
This will change little: Mykola is not in top form, and he is also not very used to playing between lines and attacking space, alternating with a forward. But there are no other options: Buialskiy is at home on the couch.
3. I considered Hutsulyak a favorite for the left flank, but the same story with him as with Yarmolyuk: he racked up mileage against France. By analogy with the story about Shaparenko and Tsyhankov, I assume that it will not be Voloshyn (who played cool against Iceland in October), but Zubkov.
On the left, Sasha started Euro 2020 but quickly broke down against the Netherlands. Since then, he has hardly played there, but against a low block, Zubkov might be better than Voloshyn,» Spivakovskyi is quoted by «TaToTake».
