In the early morning of June 2, Beijing time, in a postponed European play-off semi-final of the World Cup qualifiers, Scotland faced Ukraine . After 90 minutes of fierce fighting, Ukraine defeated Scotland 3:1.
Scotland has participated in four World Cup preliminaries play-offs before, and without exception they were all eliminated and missed the final World Cup. Today they faced Ukraine, which had been away from the field for a long time, and failed to gain the upper hand. After the start, Ukraine frequently created murderous opportunities. , In the 8th minute, Ukraine's right side of the frontcourt cooperated exquisitely. Zygankov shot vigorously in front of the penalty spot, and goalkeeper Gordon struggled to push the ball out of the baseline. In the 12th minute, Robertson slanted into the penalty area from the left side of the frontcourt. Hickey nodded slightly and missed the goal. In the 33rd minute, Malinovsky passed a long pass from the backcourt. The Scottish defense collectively pressed up, but was easily torn apart by Yarmolenko's counter-offside move. Yarmolenko removed the ball and faced the attacking goalkeeper. Gordon succeeded with a light shot, and Ukraine opened the scoring 1:0.
Just 3 minutes into the rematch, Ukraine pursued the victory and pressed forward very patiently from the right. Yarmolenko passed the ball back from an inverted triangle, Karavayev responded and passed the ball at a 45-degree angle, and Yaremchuk pushed back. Pressing the defensive player and hitting the goal with a header, Ukraine expanded its lead 2:0. Two minutes later, Ukraine once again tore through the Scottish defense on the right. Yarmolenko broke into the penalty area and escaped from two double-teams and fired a low shot. Goalkeeper Gordon struggled to save the ball.
In the 57th minute, Ukrainian goalkeeper Bushchan almost burned himself with fire. He was half a beat too slow to deliver the ball and was almost blocked by McGregor into the net. In the 79th minute, Scotland moved from the left side of the frontcourt to the right side and then passed the ball. Bushchain made another mistake and saved the ball. Not far away, Scotland pressed in the frontcourt. McGregor made a strong follow-up shot from the penalty area line, but Bushchain was unable to save the ball. , the ball fell over the goal line, the referee decided that the goal was valid, and Scotland got a goal back at 1:2.
In stoppage time, the Scottish defense, which could only press forward with all its strength, was empty. In the 95th minute, Ukraine intercepted the ball in the backcourt and counterattacked. Zinchenko counterattacked with the ball and sent a precise through ball. Dovback came in at high speed to get the ball and kill it. He entered the penalty area and succeeded in a calm push shot, sealing the victory for Ukraine 3:1. Scotland lost all five World Cup qualifying play-offs. After Ukraine won and advanced, they competed with and Wales for the last World Cup spot in Europe.
