( Observer Network ) In the early morning of the 6th, Beijing time, the Welsh men's football team defeated the Ukrainian men's football team 1-0 in the 2022 World Cup European Qualifiers play-off, and entered the World Cup finals again after 64 years.
However, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this game cannot escape the influence of political and public opinion. Some media even "dig a hole" for Welsh captain Bell before the game, asking "Would you be sorry for eliminating Ukraine?"
Bel replied that the team sympathized with the Ukrainian people, but would not apologize if they won. Because "this is a football game, we want to win, and we want to enter the World Cup."
However, after the game, some netizens were still unable to face the situation of Ukraine's loss, saying that they would "revise the people who quietly cleared the pass to celebrate Wales' winning." Some people even said, "All the victory in the world is worthy of the Ukrainians, and Wales does not die in war every day like Ukraine."
Bell led the European "Red Dragon" to advance into the World Cup
6 game. Ukrainian team had the advantage in the field, with a ball possession rate of 68%, and 22 shots were far ahead of Wales' 9 times.
However, due to a mistake and the performance of Welsh goalkeeper Hennessy as a god-assisted performance, Ukraine was still blocked from the World Cup. In the 33rd minute of the game, Bale took the free kick forcing the Ukrainian team Yarmolenko to score his own goal, creating the only goal in the game. With this goal, the European "Red Dragon" ended the 64-year "World Cup Dirty" and will compete with England, the United States and Iran for the Qatar World Cup Group Stage .
The last time Wales participated in the World Cup was in 1958, when they entered the quarterfinals and were eliminated by Brazil. At that time, the 17-year-old "King of Football" Bailey scored the only goal in the game.
On the other hand, Ukraine has made no achievements since reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in 2006, and the five qualifier play-offs that have participated so far have all ended in failure.
According to foreign media reports, many Ukrainian fans feel disappointed that the team is eliminated, but they also thanked the Welsh fans on the scene for their friendship and understanding each other's desire for the World Cup.
After the game, the Wales team went to Ukrainian fans to clap and signal to
However, even so, there are still voices on the foreign Internet that use the "Russia-Ukrainian conflict" to influence public opinion. This happened even before the game started.
According to Sky Sports on the 5th, Wales captain Bale was asked by reporters at the pre-match press conference, "If Wales ends Ukraine's hope of entering the World Cup, will you apologize to them?"
Bale replied, "Although sounds bad, I don't. Because this is a football game, a victory we also want to achieve. The world's sympathy for Ukraine comes from the unity brought to people by sports. We know the significance of (World Cup) to Ukraine, but we also want to enter the World Cup. This belief comes from the expectations of the country and the fans. The whole team understands the experience of Ukrainian civilians and is very concerned about Ukrainian children and families, but everyone wants to win on Sunday's game."
The United States " New York Times " said on the 5th, saying, "After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukrainian national team did not even have a chance to train once, and they can only play (official) games directly."
But some netizens immediately pointed out in the comment section that Ukrainian team had trained in Slovenia for "a few months" before the last game against Scotland (3-1 win).
According to the "Team News" report at the end of May, the Ukrainian national team had not had a formal competition for 8 months, but under the arrangement of UEFA , they gathered in Slovenia in early May, and had 3 friendly matches before the match against Scotland.
In addition, in the comment section of the New York Times, there are netizens calling for "Welsh to deliberately lose to Ukraine (but don't lose too obviously)" . Some netizens said they would not give up, "No, we can win the game fairly."
In fact, Ukrainian coach Petrakov said before the game that " sports are sports, and the team does not need gifts or unfair victory.We hope to win the game and we will do everything we can to do. "
But obviously, some netizens do not care what the parties are thinking.
For example, some British media people set up the pace after the game, claiming to "reveal the way those who celebrate Wales' victory over Ukraine." ”
A netizen who claimed to be Welsh immediately replied, “I also hope the Ukrainian team will win.” He argued, “All the victory in the world is worthy of the Ukrainians, and there is no one in Wales who dies in war every day like Ukraine. ”
Some netizens said they couldn’t understand this. “There were some ridiculous answers today, but the win or loss of the game actually would not have any impact on the situation in Ukraine. ”
Welsh coach Robert Page made a statement after the game, he knew that most neutral fans would support Ukraine, but on the court, one code is the same.
“Ukraine won the European singing competition because they received support from the world. If a snap of your fingers can eliminate Ukraine's pain, we will do it without hesitation. But in the green field, as long as the whistle sounds, we will strive to win. ”
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