Ukraine: national team captain breaks down in tears at press conference, video

The Ukrainian national team, which faces Scotland on Wednesday in the 2022 World Cup play-off, wants to “give the Ukrainians incredible emotions since they deserve it at this moment,” Manchester City defender said Tuesday. Oleksandr Zinchenko, without avoiding tears, recalling the situation in his country.

“All Ukrainians want only one thing, that this war is over,” said the Manchester City player at a press conference.

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The conflict

“The Ukrainian team also has its own dream, to go to the World Cup. He wants to give unbelievable emotions to the Ukrainians because they deserve it at this moment,” added Zinchenko, on the eve of his team’s first official match since the invasion of his country by Russian troops.

The match between Scotland and Ukraine in Glasgow was originally due to take place in March, but it was postponed after the beginning of the conflict.

The winner of the match will face Wales in Cardiff on June 5 to get a ticket for the World Cup organized in Qatar at the end of the year.

“It is impossible to describe what we feel. What is happening in our country is unacceptable. We must stop this aggression, all together. Ukraine is a country of freedom, I will never leave,” added the City player, who confided that he had considered joining the Ukrainian army to defend the country from him.

Zinchenko traveled to Slovenia to prepare for this playoff, along with players from authorized Ukrainian clubs to leave the country and other expatriate footballers, such as Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham) and Roman Yaremchuk (Benfica).

But “It is clearly difficult to motivate the team for a match, when all the players think of their family in Ukraine,” said coach Oleksandr Petrakov.

“We use all kinds of methods, we even make jokes to maintain morale, but every player feels how enormous is the task that we have in front of us on Wednesday. There is a lot of stress, but we will do our best to achieve the goal,” added Petrakov.

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AFP