Former Kyiv Dynamo forward Viktor Leonenko shared his impressions of the final match, the 6th round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifying cycle, Ukraine vs. Iceland (2:0), the result of which led the Ukrainian national team to the playoffs for the right to participate in the world championship.
Viktor Leonenko
— Congratulations to our team on the victory. It’s a good thing that football laws work and the team that played for a draw lost. As I said earlier: never listen to coaches before the matches. The Icelandic coach said that his team would not play for a draw, but after the 60th minute, they didn’t even leave their penalty area.
Mysterious things were happening! It felt like a wizard was sitting in the stadium. Everything was normal in Iceland, and then suddenly they sat in the penalty area, even though Ukraine didn’t do anything special!
— Perhaps Iceland was tired after the long flight from Azerbaijan?
— That’s an excuse for fools. Most likely, it’s a psychological issue. It seemed like there was nothing dangerous for the Icelanders, yet they stayed close to their goals too early. But that’s their problem. Thank God, we pushed through.
— Did you like the way our national team played?
— Good games rarely happen when one team is satisfied with a draw, and it’s not even about our national team. In essence, the Ukrainian national team played to win, although for me, the only chance was with Yaremchuk, who shot at the goalkeeper twice.
— What can you say about the goalless first half?
— Zubkov was the most active, but despite his activity, his performance was zero. Statistics say that we shot at the opponent’s goal seven times, but let’s analyze. Firstly, UEFA counted Zubkov’s cross and his shot two meters from the post. All our other shots were just as «dangerous,» except when Tsygankov created a chance and hit the crossbar, but if the shot was a little lower, I think the goalkeeper would have saved it. Well, at least we started shooting — that’s already pleasing.
— Let’s move on to the second half.
— The key moment happened in the 77th minute. After such a save, Trubin should remain number 1 in the Ukrainian national team until he finishes his career. Other goalkeepers could already stop joining the national team, as Lunin has done.
I can’t even understand how anyone can save that shot, and Trubin managed to punch the ball away! For me, he is the «Lion of the match» without a doubt. If not for Trubin, we would have been in big trouble!
— Who fell out of the game?
— Malinovskyi and Yarmoliuk. Malinovskyi again showed that he cannot tackle, earned an unnecessary yellow card. The Icelanders had studied him well and did not allow him to shoot from a distance. Once he shot wide, then held his head as if he created a dangerous moment.
And how many opponents did Zabarnyi push? It’s good that the referee didn’t always whistle, and Ilya managed to deceive the judge.
— Who did you like more among the forwards: Vanat or Yaremchuk?
— No one. Vanat had a great chance at the beginning of the second half after Tsygankov’s pass but forgot what to do. He ran and ran, entered the penalty area, and seemed to stop in his tracks. It felt like some psychic stopped him: «Stand still and do nothing!» And he had a good position! He could have faked, danced around the defender, shot.
And Yaremchuk managed to hit the goalkeeper from a point-blank position twice.
— Let’s analyze our goals.
— I was pleased with the goals. The most interesting thing is that Zubkov shot at the near post, he twisted his head like that, but fortunately, he missed. As a result, the ball flew to the far post and hit the net from the post. Zubkov didn’t even celebrate at first because he didn’t understand where the ball went.
About Gutsulyak, we can talk again — the Joker came on. We cannot do without «lucky» goals. Further explanation is not necessary. We won again, congratulations, but there is still a bitter aftertaste.
— On Thursday, there will be the draw for the play-offs. We might face the national teams of Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, or Wales, the last two teams are still deciding who will be second. Who do we have the best chance of beating?
— The weakest opponent is Northern Ireland; we will definitely go through them, but it will still be a struggle. The Macedonians were our opponents at Euro 2016, and we played well only for one half. Against them, Ukraine will also be the favorite. But we remember the Romanians well from Euro 2024, when we lost 0:3, especially since Lucchescu is there now, who knows Ukrainian football. It will also be tough against Sweden. Although, in a one-off match, anything can happen.
Let’s wait for the draw.
Andriy Piskun
