‘ Ukraine stars inundated ‘

Ukraine stars inundated with good luck messages from soldiers on front line as huge Wales World Cup clash looms
Wales and Ukraine will face off for a place in the World Cup finals later this year





President Volodymyr Zelensky, described the game as "two hours of happiness that we've grown unaccustomed to" and will be hoping for more of the same against Wales.

Indeed, the lack of real fervent celebrations from the Ukrainian players at full-time in Glasgow should in itself be seen as a warning. The message in their camp is clear - the job's not done yet.

"We have a dream as a team to be at the World Cup and we have one more game — one more final — and we need to win it," said Oleksandr Zinchenko. "Otherwise, this game is not going to mean anything."




ByTom Coleman

10:23, 3 JUN 2022




Ukraine's players have been inundated with hundreds of messages of support ahead of the make or break World Cup showdown with Wales.

Ukraine booked their spot in the play-off final after an astonishing night against Scotland at Hampden Park, with scenes of jubilation at the end. A packed away end toasted the efforts of their heroes, some of whom hadn't played a single minute of competitive football this year.

Next up are Wales and Shakhtar Donetsk's Taras Stepanenko revealed the players are aware of the joy they are creating back home, perhaps offering a tiny piece of respite from the fight against the Russian invasion.



"I have had maybe 100 messages from my friends and from my family and the army who serve," he said.

"I can’t explain, this game for our nation is unbelievable. It is really great emotions for our nation. It’s went from our heart and our soul. Sometimes, I can’t say what I feel. When I heard the anthem of Ukraine, I wanted to cry."

Fellow midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi added: "We have a lot of contact with a lot of people on the front. It's normal people, our friends, they texted before the game saying, “Guys, we are with you, do your job on the pitch and we'll do our job to protect our country”."

Ukraine will, of course, have to go through it all again against Wales on Sunday, and Malinovskyi warns that a failure to finish the job and secure a place in Qatar will effectively render their heroics in Glasgow ultimately meaningless.

"This win is important but if we don't win the next game, it's for nothing," he added. "We need to be calm and focus on the next game."

Wales v Ukraine kicks off at 5pm on Sunday, June 5 at Cardiff City Stadium.

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Jeez talk about giving them inspiration.
Almost feel guilty in wanting us to win

Jeez talk about giving them inspiration.
Almost feel guilty in wanting us to win

Would you feel bad if we played Yemen, Palestine, Afghan, Iraq, or Syria? The power is propaganda is real.

I can't wait and hope we win well!

This could only happen to us. I am 60 later this year and like most of us on here i ave never seen Wales play on the greatest stage of all. I truly sympathize with the predicament that Ukraine are in but this is a game of football that we must win on Sunday. The British (english) media are gonna slate us i suppose, nothing new there,but we must ,must win. Like most of you i have been shaking and have been feeling sick since the final whistle went at Hampden park...Let the best team win.Wales..cccccmmmmooonnnn

I have friends in Ukraine. I specifically have friends in Luhansk - where I stayed with them in 1986 (as part of a twin city exchange) and I therefore have a lot of empathy for what Ukrainians are going through at the moment.

They will have my sympathy vote 51 weeks of the year

But this week. Sorry.

I am Welsh, and I wish the Welsh Dragon to make it to the World Cup Finals in Qatar

It's Wales versus the world as President Zelensky sends stirring World Cup message to Ukraine team
Neutrals are throwing their weight behind Ukraine in big World Cup play-off, but a nation remains fully united behind Wales as they look to end 64 years of World Cup hurt.


Friday 3rd June 2022




Unfortunately it's happened again.

Through know fault of our own, Wales are set to dust off the script and reprise their role as the disposable anti-heroes. For the second summer in a row.

Last time, at the Euros, the neutrals rallied behind Denmark after the Christian Eriksen situation. This time Wales are on home soil. More than 30,000 members of the Red Wall crammed into Cardiff City Stadium, and an entire nation watching on TV, will be roaring on Gareth Bale and his team in the World Cup play-off with Ukraine.

But once the cauldron of noise greets the teams as they come out, an emotional round of anthems is completed and the first whistle is blown, pretty much the rest of the world will rooting for Ukraine. Just like they did with Eriksen's Danes.



For Ukraine, the horrors of the ongoing Russian invasion make it all the more extraordinary that they even managed to fulfil, let alone win, their play-off semi-final at Hampden Park. Were they to now qualify for a World Cup, it would surely go down as one of the all-time great sporting tales.

They have faced circumstances like no other heading into these play-offs. Not just in terms of the war unfolding at home, but also the lack of game time that so many of them have managed this year. Most of Oleksandr Petrakov's side are currently contracted with Ukrainian clubs, who have been unable to play since February due to the ongoing war.

With all those factors considered, one would think Wales SHOULD win. But football doesn't always work like that. Just ask Scotland.

On Wednesday night, Ukraine were well-drilled, slick and logical, producing a dazzling attacking display dripping with the sort of professionalism unbecoming of a side facing so much adversity.

Not that it was any surprise to Atalanta midfielder, Ruslan Malinovskyi. "I would say we had great performances in training," he said afterwards.

"We always push and, sometimes, it looks like an official game because everyone goes in with tackles. Because of this, we also had some injuries in training.

"Since the war started, training and games just gave me those two or three hours to be free in the mind and not think about the situation.

"My parents are in Ukraine, my brother is there. In the time when I’m on the pitch, I don’t think about the war. I just relax, concentrate on my job and what I need to do."

President Volodymyr Zelensky, described the game as "two hours of happiness that we've grown unaccustomed to" and will be hoping for more of the same against Wales.

Indeed, the lack of real fervent celebrations from the Ukrainian players at full-time in Glasgow should in itself be seen as a warning. The message in their camp is clear - the job's not done yet.

"We have a dream as a team to be at the World Cup and we have one more game — one more final — and we need to win it," said Oleksandr Zinchenko. "Otherwise, this game is not going to mean anything."

Wales have surely never had a better opportunity to end their torturous 64-year wait for an appearance at the greatest show in football. But if we're being entirely honest, many might be wishing there was another way.

"We believe this is our time to get to a World Cup finals," FAW chief executive Noel Mooney told the BBC.

"They are going through a horrendous time. I do understand that the world will look at this and like Eurovision, they want to see Ukraine get great global profile. We all do.

"But at the end of the day our job is to get to the World Cup. It will be decided on the football field. We believe we have enough in our locker to get us there."

World Cup qualification would help transform Welsh football, which for too long has spent its time in the wilderness when it comes to the sport's greatest competition.

There's the financial considerations too. Qualifying for the World Cup would earn the FAW at least an estimated £8m - money that would go a long way to helping build a future that looks beyond the likes of Bale, who knows this will be his last chance to reach the finals.

"This is the biggest game in Welsh history since 1958," Wales boss Page has already declared. "There's no hiding behind that and we're all excited by that."

But this Welsh narrative, however captivating it may be to audiences here, is nowhere near as powerful for the neutral, which means Wales will likely have to block out a fair amount of background noise in the next 48 hours or so.

In their own build-up to the game, the Daily Mail claims Wales have 'taken the baton for the planet's most unpopular team'. Such an assertion is perhaps a tad harsh. The rest of the world doesn't so much want Wales to lose - more it wants Ukraine to win.

Indeed, Wales usually take pride in their ability to make friends wherever they go, and certainly captured the hearts of neutrals during that magical run at Euro 2016.

And yet, this is the second time in as many years that they've taken on this role . Last summer, it was Denmark, struck by the withdrawal of Eriksen after he collapsed on the pitch during the game with Finland.

Wales were hammered on that occasion. The rest of the world got its wish.

Let's hope things are rather different this time around. A sellout Cardiff City Stadium, and an entire Welsh nation, will be fully behind their own team.

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I don’t buy into none of this. We sounding like scousers saying the whole world is against us, when it really isn’t.
I think we win by 2. If we don’t it because we weren’t the better team on the day no other reason. There no excuses to hide behind. They professionals do the job they done hundreds of time before won’t play as big a part as the pressure of our first World Cup in most peoples life times.

Jeez talk about giving them inspiration.
Almost feel guilty in wanting us to win

Would you feel bad if we played Yemen, Palestine, Afghan, Iraq, or Syria? The power is propaganda is real.

I can't wait and hope we win well!

So do I.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=227911

The OP this thread has summed thing up perfectly excellent post by him.

Fck em they qualited for the 2006 world cup our turn now .

Someone on the WoL commented that the Ukraine team were full of young, fit fighting age men playing football while their country is being shafted, and their families in danger. I hadn't thought of it before but he's got a point.

They may have a dream - but we have a dream to, and personally I think we will be too strong for them, we shoudl go straight at them from the start.

They may have a dream - but we have a dream to, and personally I think we will be too strong for them, we shoudl go straight at them from the start.

I do agree but also watch the back door as they’re nippy on the break.

I can’t see us winning this

I can’t see us winning this

That’s the spirit.

Why do you think that?
I think we are a much stronger team and it’s ours to lose.

Our home support can play a big part by not getting nervous like the Scots did. "Flower of Scotland" was screech out rather than sang and after 15mins or so when Scotland showed no signs of scoring the crowd went quiet and I thought very nervous. Ukraine visibly grew into the game and by the time they scored it was too late for the crowd to play a part.

Its a game of football nothing else.Wales all the way nothing else .Im focused on wales today and a welsh win .
The players will be thinking the same thing .wales 2-1 come on wales