The midfielder of the Ukrainian national team Ivan Kaliuzhnyi summed up yesterday’s match against Iceland (2:0) in the final, 6th round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament, the result of which secured the Ukrainian national team a spot in the playoffs for the right to participate in the World Cup.
Ivan Kaliuzhnyi (with the ball) in the match against Iceland. Photo — A. Popov’In my opinion, in both the first half and the second half, we played more as the leading team, more on counterattacks.
I won’t say that it was easier for us in Iceland: there, our opponent had more possession, and in this game, a draw was acceptable for them. Therefore, the Icelanders probably played more consciously for this result.
But as practice shows, not only in today’s match, it is very difficult to play for a draw. We needed a win, and we got it. We could have scored a little earlier, but we scored when we needed to. If the ball doesn’t go in, you need to create more chances. Eventually, we managed to score, and we are very happy.
Of course, there were some nerves before the first goal, because there wasn’t much time left. But we believed and knew we would score that goal. We scored the first, which was good, then there were moments at our goal, but when we scored the second goal, it became a bit easier,' said Kaliuzhnyi.
