By Gareth James
Wales’ World Cup play-off opponents Ukraine deserve “cheer and encouragement” following their 3-1 win in Wednesday night’s 3-1 play-of semi-final win against Scotland.
That’s the view of Craig Brown, the last manager to take Scotland’s national men’s team to a World Cup finals.
The Ukrainian team had not played a competitive match since November 2021 and had originally been due to meet Scotland in the semi-finals of the World Cup play-offs in March, but this had to be postponed due to the war.
If Ukraine win against Wales on Sunday, they will qualify for a place at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
Brown took Scotland to the 1998 World Cup in France when he managed the team between 1993 and 2001.
Speaking to BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Thursday, he told the show “it wasn’t too bad” to lose to Ukraine due to the Russian invasion in March.
Congratulations to Ukraine 🇺🇦
We were opponents for 90 minutes on the pitch tonight, but continue to stand in solidarity with you now.#SCOUKR pic.twitter.com/DvTMtVLIsx
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 1, 2022
He said: ”I’ve got to say this in fairness. If we’re going to lose to anyone, I think to lose to Ukraine wasn’t too bad because of the state their country is in at the moment.
“We never want to lose a football match, especially a competitive one with a lot at stake, but if we’ve to lose I think most people would say that ‘well, if we’re to lose, Ukraine deserve a wee bit of cheer and a wee bit of encouragement these days the way things are in the country’.”
Brown said that he remains “hugely optimistic” about the team.
He said: “I’m hugely optimistic about the future, although desperately disappointed.
“Steve Clarke is an outstanding football manager, he’s got a good staff and he’s got a very good, healthy group of players at the right age.
“We were outclassed last night but that happens. Usually the best player wins the match. Unfortunately for Scotland we weren’t at our best last night and Ukraine deservedly beat us.”
SCOTLAND ARE NOT GOING TO THE WORLD CUP!
UKRAINE KEEP THEIR WORLD CUP DREAM ALIVE! pic.twitter.com/I9B7JsWLnA
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 1, 2022
Manchester City star Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was magnificent against Clarke’s side, said it was a victory that meant so much following the conflict the country has recently been put through.
“To be fair, everyone, of course, knows the situation right now in Ukraine and every single game for us is like a final game,” Zinchenko told Sky Sports.
“But to be fair, we have dreamed like a team to be at the World Cup and we now have one more game, and we need to win it, otherwise this game is not going to mean anything.”
On the victory and the upcoming clash with Wales, the versatile 25-year-old added: “I would say we played quite well, apart from maybe 20 minutes in the second-half. Scotland always leads a great team and they have unbelievable players in each line, so we knew it was going to be so tough.
“A team like Scotland play an open game, so it is not quite like our style, but we did well; we scored three goals and could have scored even more.
“It is going to be a massive game for us — everyone understands the situation for us. I would say that it is like a final and every single one of us needs to show our best performance in our lives and then we will see what is going to happen.”