On Thursday, March 26, the Ukrainian team lost in Valencia to Sweden in the semifinal match of the playoffs of the qualification of the World Cup 2026.
It is reported by UEFA, informs the portal PromPolitInform.
Ukraine hosted Sweden in the Spanish city of Valencia. The team of Sergei Rebrov before the decisive game lost due to injuries the forward of the Italian “Roma” Artem Dovbyk, the midfielder of the Dutch “Ajax” Alexander Zinchenko and the central defenders – Nikolai Matvienko from “Shakhtar,” Taras Mikhavko from “Dynamo,” Maxim Taloverov from the English “Stoke City” and Arseny Batagov from the Turkish “Trafar” bzonspor. ” In addition, in the semifinals of the playoffs against Sweden, the midfielder “Genoa” from Italy Ruslan Malinovsky and the right defender of “Shakhtar” Yefim Konoplya, who were disqualified due to busting yellow cards, did not play.
The national team of Ukraine unsuccessfully started the match in Valencia and missed in the 6th minute. Benjamin Nygren received the ball on the left in the penalty area, gave a diagonal pass to Victor Dokeresh, who closed the pass at the far post.
At the start of the second half, Rebrov’s team missed a second time. After the attack of the Ukrainians, the goalkeeper of the Swedes Christopher Nordfeldt quickly knocked the ball into someone else’s half of the field, he was picked up by Dokeresh, who, in the fight against two rivals, delivered an accurate low blow and made a double.
In the 72nd minute, the referee awarded a penalty against the Ukrainian national team when goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin shot down Viktor Dokeresh. The forward himself realized the penalty and scored a hat-trick.
The Ukrainians scored in response only in the compensated time through the efforts of Matvey Ponomarenko, who came on as a substitute and scored in his debut match for the national team.
The national team of Ukraine lost to Sweden with a score of 1:3.
Sweden on March 31 in the final of the playoffs will play with Poland. Ukraine will hold a friendly meeting with Albania on this day.
ChS-2026. Qualification
Playoffs. Semi-final
March 26
Ukraine – Sweden 1: 3
Goals: Ponomarenko, 90+1 – Dokeresh, 6, 51, 72 (pen.)
Ukraine: Trubin, Tymchyk, Zabarny, Bondar, Mykolenko, Kalyuzhny (Hutsulyak, 60), Yarmolyuk (Shaparenko, 85), Tsygankov, Sudakov (Ponomarenko, 77), Zubkov (Ocheretko, 60), Vanat (Yaremchuk, 60)
Sweden: Nordfeldt, Gin (Starfelt, 37), Lagerbilke, Lindelof, Johansson, Ayari (Bergvall, 77), Karlström, Gudmundsson (Svensson, 77), Elanga (Svanberg, 90+4), Nygren, Dokeresh
Warning: Timchik, 57, Trubin, 71, Nordfeldt, 75
How Ukraine performed in the group round of selection
The national team of Ukraine in the selection ChS-2026 performed in the group D. The team of Sergei Rebrov started in the qualification in Wroclaw Polish game against France on September 5 and lost 0:2.
On September 9, in Baku, our national team tied 1:1 with Azerbaijan, which began its performance in the qualification with a guest defeat from Iceland – 0:5. In another meeting on September 9, France defeated Iceland – 2:1.
On October 10, the Ukrainians in Reykjavik defeated the Icelanders – 5:3, and the French in Paris outplayed the Azerbaijanis – 3:0. On October 13, the Ukrainian team defeated Azerbaijan (2:1), and France lost points with Iceland (2:2).
On November 13, in the penultimate selection match, the Ukrainian team lost to France (0:4), and in a parallel meeting Iceland defeated Azerbaijan (2:0).
In the final matches of the selection, on November 16, the Ukrainian team defeated Iceland (2:0), and the French were better than Azerbaijan (3:1).
In the final standings of Group D, France with 16 points took first place and went directly to the ChS-2026. Ukraine scored 10 points and will play in the playoffs. Iceland scored 7 points, Azerbaijan has 1 point.
Ukraine will play the first butt match against Sweden on March 26 in Valencia. In case of victory, Ukraine on March 31 will argue for a ticket to the final part with the strongest of the pair Poland – Albania.
What you need to know about the new format ChS-2026
In 2026, the World Cup will be the first in history, in the final part of which 48 teams will play. 12 groups of four teams will be formed. The first two teams from each group and the eight best third teams will reach the 1/16 finals.
World Cup matches will be held in 16 cities. ChS-2026 Games in Canada will be hosted by Toronto and Vancouver, in Mexico – Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, in the USA – Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.
The opening match of the World Cup will be held on June 11 in Mexico City, and the final game on July 19 in New York.
Photo – UAF
