Reminders Of War Motivate Ukraine To Perform 'miracle' Against England
It may be thousands of miles from the frontline, but the Ukrainian soccer team is never far from the horrors of war.
While the squad has assembled in the leafy suburbs of London ahead of its Euro 2024 qualifying match against England, Russian forces continue to bombard Ukraine – with deadly missile strikes seen across the country this week.
It's why, despite the comfort of their luxury hotel, the minds of the team are very much with their friends and family back home as they prepare for Sunday's game.
Oleksandr Glyvynskyy, the Ukrainian team's media representative, says many members of the squad have an application on their phone that alerts them when there is an air-raid siren back home.
Others start every day by scrolling through social media to check whether there were any Russian attacks from the night before.
They do this to ensure their loved ones are safe, but it also serves as a constant reminder of just how perilous the situation is.
"We're struggling inside because we know people are dying every day," Glyvynskyy, who has family back in Kyiv, told CNN Sport from the team's hotel.
"Last night, I woke up two times because I had this air raid program on my phone.
"We understand the situation. It's not easy, but what can you do? Until the moment we get our victory, we have to live with it."
© Provided by CNN The Ukrainian national team arrived in London on Monday ahead of the game at Wembley. - Mark D. Fuller/SIPA/AP
Offering 'hope' to a country at warIt's far from the perfect preparation for a match against a team ranked fifth in the world and boasting some of the best players on the planet.
England reached the World Cup quarterfinals last year and beat Ukraine 4-0 on its way to the European Championship final in 2021.
But despite the odds being stacked against them, Ukraine's players, who narrowly missed out on a place at Qatar 2022, still have hope.
After all, it's hope that has lifted the country's spirits since the start of the full scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Since then, the team has been learning to cope with its difficult conditions and has tried to adapt the way it prepares for games.
Without wanting to put undue pressure on the players, the coaching staff tries to harness the anguish of back home on the pitch.
"This game at Wembley will be first and foremost for our warriors, for our defenders, who actually protect Ukraine fighting the deadly enemy," Ukraine's interim coach Ruslan Rotan told reporters on Wednesday.
"A positive result at Wembley will give hope and put smiles on people's faces and will bring some much needed positive emotions for the people of Ukraine."
The team arrived in London on Monday to train at Premier League club Brentford's facilities ahead of its first qualifying game of the Euro 2024 campaign.
Brentford, which played its guests in a warmup game on Thursday, has seen an increased interest since the Ukraine team arrived.
Throughout the week, a handful of Ukrainian fans have been peeking through the fences to catch a glimpse of the team training, while supporters have gathered outside its nearby hotel in West London.
As a member of Brentford's ground staff told CNN: "This is no normal national team."
© Provided by CNN Ukraine played a warmup game against Brentford B on Thursday. - Mark D. Fuller/SIPA/AP
Despite being the away side on Sunday, it promises to be an electric atmosphere inside Wembley, which is expecting over 4,000 Ukrainian fans.
The English Football Association and Wembley Stadium invited more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees, and the families who've sponsored them, as special guests for the match.
"Football has been united in its support for Ukraine and condemnation of the invasion by Russian forces," Wembley Stadium Director Liam Boylan said in a statement.
"The invitation to Wembley Stadium is a reaffirmation of our solidarity with Ukrainian supporters currently living here in the UK, and a thank you to all those Britons who have opened up their homes to help them."
It's a gesture that caretaker coach Rotan has welcomed, but he promises the niceties will end once the referee blows his whistle.
"The atmosphere of the game will be friendly, but it will be a battle of the football pitch," he added.
Logistical nightmareFor many of the players, it's been a logistical battle to even get to the training camp in London.
Now that the Ukrainian Premier League has resumed, many of the national players are back playing in the safer Western areas of the country.
However, with no airlines flying directly from Ukraine, it took some players almost 24 hours to arrive in the UK.
Two groups of players traveled by either train or bus to Rzeszow, a Polish city on the Ukrainian border, before flying to London where they were joined by teammates who play elsewhere around Europe.
While the Ukrainian FA has become an expert problem solver over the last year, it's a tiring process from which everyone involved is ready to move on.
But despite all the obstacles in their way, the players are confident they can pull off a surprise result on Sunday.
© Provided by CNN A destroyed soccer facility in a heavily shelled neighborhood in Ukraine. - Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/FILE
"It will be a nice game, a nice test to see what level we are," Ukraine midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi told CNN Sport on Friday from the team's hotel.
"Everybody is motivated and it's a chance to show who we are. We need to take out the pressure and play our football."
Despite there being no obvious end to the fighting, everyone CNN spoke to from the Ukrainian squad had hope that the wounds would slowly start to heal overtime and things would one day go back to normal.
Until then, this team is focused on providing its compatriots with 90 minutes of respite amid the bleakness of war.
On Sunday, they have the opportunity to do so in a stadium dubbed the "home of football" – a powerful moment for a country still under attack.
"Now, we're through winter. With spring, your hope increases," Glyvynskyy added.
"We are tired of war. We want to live our life in peaceful Ukraine, but the guys will step out at Wembley, in a historical place of dreams.
"Everyone understands England is a very, very strong team. It will not be easy but when you watch football, everyone believes in a miracle."
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England Looks Dominant In 2-0 Win Over Ukraine: Three Takeaways
By Matthew PlaczekSpecial to FOX Sports
LONDON – England defeated Ukraine, 2-0, in its return to Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Here are three thoughts on the Euro qualifying action:
England dominates in scintillating fashion
After one of the most commanding first-half performances from the Three Lions in recent history, Gareth Southgate's men slumped in the second 45' and had to cling to a 2-1 win lead to earn three points against Italy on Thursday.
There was no such decline against a resigned Ukrainian side in front of 80,000 of the most clamorous home fans in international soccer. Quite uncharacteristically, England dictated the flow of the game from the first minute to the final whistle.
With the inclusion of Jordan Henderson over Kalvin Phillips, the discrepancy in midfield talent between the English and the Ukrainians was massive. The Three Lions dictated every play and continuously sliced through any attempted Ukrainian press with ease. Just as they did in the World Cup, the midfield trio of Henderson-Declan Rice-Jude Bellingham anchored England's movement throughout the match, allowing Harry Kane to recycle his runs if needed.
The difference in quality was even more evident in front of goal. England had 18 shots (all but one inside the box) and forced six saves out of goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin. On the other hand, Ukraine sent three shots from outside the 18-yard box toward Jordan Pickford, but not a single one of them ended up anywhere near the Everton goalkeeper. In fact, the only time Pickford had to touch the ball with his hands was to restart play on goal kicks.
The withdrawal of Phil Foden due to appendix surgery will put a slight damper on the English mood, but a solid win means they sit comfortably at the top of Group C with six points after two games.
Bukayo Saka is in the best form of his career
It only took three minutes for the 21-year-old to show the world why Southgate didn't bother calling in another right-winger for this international break.
In the 37th minute, Saka brought down a diagonal ball from Kane with the most delicate of touches onto his preferred left foot. He then drove straight at Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk, putting the defender on his heels, before whipping in a flawless cross to find the left foot of Kane for the first goal of the game.
Three minutes later, Saka drifted inside from the flank to receive a pass from Kyle Walker. With his back to goal, he shuffled the ball onto his left foot and cut inside to create a half-yard of space in front of Mykola Matvienko. With the Shakhtar Donetsk defender out of the equation, Saka unleashed a screamer into the top bins for a goal that deserves to be watched over and over.
With 13 goals for Arsenal in the Premier League this season, Saka has already eclipsed his total of 12 from the entire 2021-22 campaign. Other than Lionel Messi, it's difficult to think of another left-footed player with the same ability to drag players out of position into dangerous one-on-one situations.
With eight goals in 26 appearances, Saka has accumulated quite the strike rate with the Three Lions. If his teammates continue to hand him opportunities in threatening positions, the youngster could easily rack up three or four more goals before this qualification window wraps up.
Ukraine has lost its spark
The world was in Ukraine's corner as it took on Wales in the final game of the World Cup playoffs last June. In heartbreaking fashion, Andriy Yarmolenko redirected a Gareth Bale free kick into his own goal to end the Blue and Yellow's dream of making the trip to Qatar.
On Sunday, Ruslan Rotan's men were a shell of the passionate side that propelled Ukraine to that moment.
The only player in a yellow jersey who looked up to the task of competing with England was SC Dnipro-1's Oleksandr Svatok despite it being the 28-year-old's first international game. He did well to limit Kane's touches in the final third and had a strong awareness of where he needed to be when defending a dangerous England counterattack.
The other 10 men put in average performances but did little to stem the constant tsunami of white shirts. Both fullbacks had to be subbed off because they couldn't handle over-the-top long balls. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Taras Stepanenko were defensively stout, but they offered almost nothing for Ukraine going forward.
Mudryk, who signed with Chelsea for a combined 100 million Euros in transfer fees and add-ons in January, had the toughest day on the pitch. He lost eight of his nine ground duels and only took 30 touches in 61 minutes. If Mudryk can't step up and supply the goal contributions that Ukraine desperately need, the Blue and Yellow are in for a long qualification campaign.
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