Dylan Bettencourt
After months of delay, the Fifa World Cup playoff between Ukraine and Scotland is set to finally take place on Wednesday night at 8.45 pm.
The fixture was due to be played a couple of months ago but was postponed, allowing the national football team and its supporters time to focus on the conflict with Russia, which is now going into its fourth month.
A spot at the World Cup is the goal for Ukraine but the team just walking back out on the football pitch as the conflict rages on is a victory on its own. The game is about overcoming adversity to prove that hate cannot defeat them.
The game is scheduled to take place at Hampden Park in Scotland, but it will feel like a home game for Ukraine who will have immense support from the crowd.
“I think goose bumps will be felt around the world,” Andriy Smondulak, a Ukrainian who will be in the stadium, told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.
“I think Hampden Park will temporarily feel like an opera house with so much emotion and drama, both on and off the pitch.”
The fixture is Ukraine’s first competitive fixture since the invasion on 24 February and is perhaps their most important.
The winner of the clash will face Wales on Sunday for a spot at the Qatar World Cup where they will be in a group with England, Iran and the USA.
Smondulak added that the game will be immensely symbolic for Ukrainians.
“It is about showing the world that, despite the immense horrors of the war and the fact that Ukraine is defending itself against the second most powerful army in the world, miracles do happen,” he said.
“We are praying for a very small miracle this Wednesday.”
The Scotland vs Ukraine World Cup semi-final playoff is scheduled to kickoff at 8.45pm on Wednesday night, live on DStv channel 203.
