Ukraine's bid for spot in World Cup despite the war with Russia dashed with 1-0 loss to Wales

Ukraine coach dedicates World Cup qualifying playoff win to compatriots suffering in homeland

Cardiff, Wales — Ukraine's players wept in the rain while applauding their dejected supporters after missing out on qualifying for the World Cup by losing 1-0 to Wales in Europe's last playoff for the FIFA soccer showpiece on Sunday.

Ukraine's Oleksandr Zinchenko applauds fans after Ukraine's 1-0 loss to Wales in a World Cup qualifier match on June 5, 2022. Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs

The agonizing moment in a tight game came in the 34th minute when Andriy Yarmolenko inadvertently headed the ball into his own net while trying to clear Wales captain Gareth Bale's free kick.

While Wales heads to a first World Cup in 64 years - opening against the United States in November - this was a game too far for Ukraine's emotionally charged mission to qualify for Qatar while remaining under invasion by Russia.

Wales' Ben Davies consoles Ukraine's Andriy Yarmolenko after Wales beat Ukraine 1-0 on June 5, 2022. Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs

"We did everything that we could," coach Oleksandr Petrakov said through a translator, "but I really want the people of Ukraine to remember our team's efforts."

Petrakov's priority, once the World Cup dream had been extinguished, was ensuring the suffering at home is not forgotten by the world.

"We have war raging all over the country," Petrakov said. "We have children and women dying on a daily basis. Our infrastructure is being ruined by Russian barbarians. The Russians want to hurt us, but the Ukrainians are resisting and defending their land. We just want your support. We just want to you to understand what is happening back home."

Back home, on the 102nd day of the war, Ukrainians took respite from the pain and suffering by watching the game from Cardiff in bars, including in Kyiv.

Ukrainian supporters react as they watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 playoff final qualifier soccer match between Wales and Ukraine in a pub in Kyiv on June 5, 2022. Wales won 1-0. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images

The war and missile strikes earlier Sunday in Ukraine's capital put an obvious damper on any party mood for the match.

Still, architect Dmytro Leshehenko dug out his bright yellow national team jersey - bought in happier times when Ukraine co-hosted the 2012 European Championships - and trekked with his flip-flop-wearing brother past two of Kyiv's gold-domed cathedrals to a bar where they watched the match with friends, washed down with two huge 3-liter jugs of beer, fried bread, smoked meats and other nibbles.

"People in the battlefields watched this on their phones," Leshehenko said, recounting conversations with friends serving in the armed forces.

When the giant screens in the bar lost the signal in the second half, patrons gathered around mobile phones to follow the action. Some joked that Russian hackers must have knocked out the transmission.

A Ukrainian supporter is consoled by her daughter during the FIFA World Cup Qualifying Playoff match between Wales and Ukraine at Cardiff City Stadium on June 05, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. Wales won 100. Getty Images

The sadness of losing was tempered by the fact that, in the big scheme of things, the war is far more important. The match was just a moment of respite.

"We have more problems than this," Leshehenko said. "This is a day where we can feel that there is no war. It's a holiday for us."

In Cardiff, there was also a sense that the playoff was the lesser of the struggles facing Ukraine

"Our main fight is our war," said Ukraine fan Anna Stepanova, who traveled to follow the team from Mykolaiv, where her house has been damaged. "Every day we hear bombs and hear artillery. It's a very difficult life. We came here and we're like in another world."

The specter of the war was evident in the Welsh capital with a message of peace in English and Ukrainian on the screens in the Cardiff City Stadium.

A young Ukraine fan lifts a Ukrainian flag reading "STOP WAR" during the FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff match between Wales and Ukraine at Cardiff City Stadium on June 05, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. Wales won 100. Getty Images

Of the 1,800-seat allocation for Ukraine, 100 free tickets were given to refugees who have been forced to flee Ukraine since the invasion began in February, which led to Russia being disqualified from World Cup qualifying.

Rivalries were put aside when the Ukrainian national anthem was played and it was applauded by the home fans who later clapped off the downbeat opposition.

Ultimately it was Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey who proved an impenetrable barrier. No other team had as many as Ukraine's nine shots on target in European qualifying without managing to score.

Ukraine had kept its Cup hopes alive with an emotional 3-1 win over Scotland last week.

After that match, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Instagram to thank the team for "two hours of happiness."

"Just thank you guys! Two hours of happiness that we've grown  unaccustomed to," he wrote. "They went out. They fought. They persevered. They won. Because they are Ukrainians!"  

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