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| Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko celebrates with the Premier League trophy |
Ukraine full back Oleksandr Zinchenko said his team hope to make their country proud when they take on Scotland in a World Cup playoff semi-final next week.
Ukraine play Scotland at Hampden Park on June 1 in a match that was postponed from March due to the Russiaโs invasion, which Moscow calls a โspecial military operation.โ
โThe first period when it just started, it was so complicated to be focused on football,โ Zinchenko told the BBC.
โAll my thoughts were with Ukraine, Ukrainian people. I would say for everyone, for every Ukrainian footballer โฆ
โThis game is one of the most important games in my life. The guys look ready and itโs not necessary to talk about motivation.โ
It will be Ukraineโs first competitive match since the invasion began in February. The Ukrainian Premier League season was abandoned last month.
โThe physical condition, obviously without the games, itโs not easy to prepare yourself for the guys that havenโt played for a while,โ Zinchenko said.
โIn this case, there is no excuses and we have to do our job as best as we can.
โI can promise all the Ukrainian people that every one of us is going to give everything to win the game and to make them proud of us and just maybe for a few seconds we would like to give them this smile.โ
The winner of the playoff will face Wales in Cardiff on June 5 for a spot in Qatar later this year.
REUTERS
