Former striker of the Ukrainian national team Oleksandr Palyanytsia shared his impressions of yesterday’s match of the final, 6th round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament, Ukraine — Iceland.
Oleksandr Palyanytsia— To be honest, for one and a half halves, it was worrying about the final result. We needed to win, and Serhiy Rebrov’s players took too long, figuratively speaking, to «get going.»
— Is this due to a lack of confidence in their abilities?
— Most likely, from the desire to minimize the number of mistakes, the price of this confrontation was very high. That’s why a lot of time was spent playing the ball on their half of the field, and the Icelanders managed to build defensive lines. Unfortunately, since our midfielders' actions weren’t constructive, it was very rare to complicate the visitors' defense with incisive passes. Everything was predictable.
— Then, what helped the Ukrainians break this monotony and achieve a breakthrough in the middle of the second half?
— First of all, they began to «cover» their opponents in the transition phase and skillfully intercepted the ball. Secondly, they increased speed and variety in attacks. Our leader Serhiy Rebrov guessed right with the substitutions.
— In your opinion, does the final result match the course of events on the field at the Warsaw stadium?
— I think so. Our guys played to win, although with some help from the visitors, who retreated too deep into their defense too early. They paid the price for their passivity.
— Do you want to highlight anyone among the winners?
— Trubin should be highlighted for keeping his goal intact and Zubkov for opening the score. Serhiy Rebrov’s charges, although with creaks, made it to the playoffs. Let’s hope that with the return of several injured leading players, our chances in the play-offs will increase. The most interesting is yet to come.
Andrii Pisarenko
