There is still one place remaining at the 2022 World Cup for a nation from Europe and on Wednesday 1st of June we have a meeting between Scotland and Ukraine.
The match will be played at Hampden Park, giving Scotland the home advantage and the winners will travel to play Wales on Sunday in Cardiff.
💪 Fully focused at @OriamScotland as we prepare for Wednesday night.#SCOUKR pic.twitter.com/HCSO3tKH0o— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) May 29, 2022
💪 Fully focused at @OriamScotland as we prepare for Wednesday night.#SCOUKR pic.twitter.com/HCSO3tKH0o
Scotland finished second in World Cup qualifying Group F, 4 points behind Denmark. The group started disappointingly for Scotland as they were held to a draw at home by Austria and Israel away.
They could not afford to make any mistakes at home against Faroe Islands and picked up their first win of the group.
A 2-0 defeat in Denmark placed Scotland under a lot of pressure but they responded superbly. Scotland won each of their remaining 6 group matches, including good wins at Austria and at home against Denmark in the final group fixture.
Scotland remained undefeated at home throughout their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign. They won 4 of their 5 matches at Hampden Park and are undefeated in their last 11 World Cup qualifying matches on home soil, which is a good record.
Trends show Scotland have kept a clean sheet in 3 of their last 4 home World Cup qualifying fixtures.
Ukraine make the trip to Hampden Park with nothing to lose as they play against the backdrop of something more important than football. However, this is an opportunity for the players to try and put a smile on the faces of the Ukrainian people but they face a tough test against the Scots.
Like Scotland, Ukraine finished second in their 2022 World Cup qualifying group, 6 points behind France. Interestingly, Ukraine remained undefeated in their 8 group matches but recorded only 2 wins. There were some good results against defending World Cup champions France, including a 1-1 draw in Paris to open the group and a 1-1 draw against the French at home.
However, Ukraine dropped points at home against Bosnia, Kazakhstan, and Finland and if they had won those matches, they could have finished top of the group.
Trends show Ukraine remained unbeaten away from home in 2022 World Cup qualifying and they have lost only 1 of their last 7 away World Cup qualifying fixtures.
Both teams have scored in 3 of Ukraine’s last 4 away World Cup qualifying games.
Team news and Scotland can call upon several Premier League players, including Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Stuart Armstrong, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, and Ché Adams.
Ukraine have several players from Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv, who have not played competitively for some time. Andriy Yarmolenko, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruslan Malinovskyi, and Roman Yaremchuk have been playing in other European leagues.
This is going to be an emotionally charged game and Ukraine will be giving their all to win the match and qualify. However, Scotland have been good at home in recent matches and could win by a 1 goal margin, with both teams scoring.