The Telegram channel 'TaToTake' published the report of the analytical company Wyscout on the 2026 World Cup qualifying match between the Ukrainian national team and the Icelandic team. So, the main statistical echoes of the 'Match of the Year':
Viktor Tsygankov and Oleksandr Zubkov— A fatal decision by the guests: after substituting winger Vilumsson for Gudmundsson in the 65th minute, the hybrid 4/4/2 (5−3−2) definitively reorganized into a defensive scheme, and after the best stretch at the start of the second half (64:36% in possession), the Icelanders completely conceded the initiative — 18:82% in the next 15 minutes!
— Our team significantly dominated the opponent in duels — 54−43% in ground battles and 49−46% in the air. Zabarnyi, Matvienko, and Mykolenko did not lose a single duel on the ground — 14/14. However, Illya won only 1 out of 3 in the air.
Special mention should be given to Ivan Kalyuzhnyi’s work in interceptions — he regained the ball 9 times! This is the best result for both teams.
— The main triumph for Ukraine in defense — they blocked the 'Italian' left flank of Iceland with Elerstsson and Gudmundsson. From this area, the opponent managed only... 0.01 xG! Iceland’s leader Albert Gudmundsson had a rather lackluster match — 1 shot (missed), 4 crosses (all inaccurate), duels — 21/8, dribbles — 8/3.
— Despite the fact that two goal-scoring moments were created after crosses, Ukraine once again proved that this is not its strongest aspect in the game. Over the match, 22 crosses were made. Only 3 reached their targets.
All accurate crosses were from wingers: Tsygankov — 2, Zubkov — 1.
— All negative impressions regarding two players of the national team were fully confirmed. Vlad Vanat played with 75% errors. He was the worst in percentage of duels won — 16/3, which is extremely low even for a forward. For comparison, Hutsulyak and Yaremchuk provided 17/10 together. Shaparenko did not manage to win any duels — 4/0.
However, Tsygankov, Malinovsky, and Kalyuzhnyi performed brilliantly in duels — each with 62% successful duels.
— The stats explained why Yarmolyuk almost disappeared on the field. He was the third-worst in duels — 4/1, meaning he engaged in duels only 4 times in 70 minutes! The same as Shaparenko did in 25 minutes. Yehor was the worst starting player in returns — 3. For comparison: Malinovsky had 7, and even Vanat had 4.
However, it was Yarmolyuk who was the best player in the national team for the accuracy of long passes — 6/5. He also had a very decent final third passing rate — 8/7.
— The experts in the studio underestimated Viktor Tsygankov, who not only performed Mudryk with the ball (12/8 dribbling attempts) and was very impressive in attacking duels (14/9). For example, the whole main squad achieved 28/10!
In addition, Tsygankov delivered the ball 6 times into the zone 20 meters from the opponent’s goal. As much as the entire team did that evening.
— Last fact: Viktor Tsygankov’s shots on the crossbar and Oleksiy Hutsulyak’s goal-scoring shot were rated only at 0.04 and 0.06 xG respectively. Interestingly, that same Vanat created 0.51 xG in the first half!
