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Today, December 7, 2020, the accents for the Ukrainian national team for the 2021 calendar year were determined. We have four rivals with whom we will have to contest a place in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
- France;
- Ukraine;
- Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Finland;
- Kazakhstan
Of the five teams, only one qualifies directly: the winner of the group. The second team in the standings will have an additional opportunity to qualify through the playoffs. What are the chances that the Ukrainian team will play in the autumn / winter 2022 at the World Cup? Who should you fear and who should you be afraid of, not respecting yourself? Analyzed by UA-Football journalists.
Igor semyon… The results of the draw must be viewed from the point of view of which basket the team of interest was in. Ukraine was in second place, and this is, after all, the elite. Therefore, getting into rivals of the reigning world champion, a team that reached the “final four” of the current Nations League, is an unpleasant fact. In fact, France is the most difficult rival possible from the first basket. Pertsa also adds the fact that in autumn we lost to the French 1: 7 and the memories of this failure at the time of the new encounter with “Les Bleus” have not yet disappeared from the subconscious. Let’s let in that “freight train” that we play with a composition that is far from optimal.
Of course, we can say that the reigning European champion was with us in the selection group for Euro 2020 and as a result ended up behind Ukraine’s back. But with the French, I think this trick will not be repeated. The first place is reserved here. And not only Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina (the third basket), but also Finland will fight for the second.
I remember how difficult it was for us against Suomi in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers (I saw one of those fights live). And since then the Finns have made significant progress: they are now an arrogant middle peasant. With this team, it won’t be easy to get the most out of it. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a national team with several brilliant figures in the squad (of which only Dzeko and Pjanic are worth), albeit without an unshakable unity. No stronger than Serbia, which we crushed in Lviv. But will Shevchenko’s team be able to repeat football of the same level? That is the question.
Well, Kazakhstan must be won by definition.
Forecast. The second place of the Ukrainian team. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish third.
Georgy Groshev. Fact: in 2020, Ukraine is out of luck with everything. It all started with the Champions League, where Shakhtar got a group of deaths, and Dynamo fell from the first two baskets, Barcelona and Juventus. As it turned out later, even “Ferencvaros” is not that simple. Van der Wart and de Rossi decided to finish us off (in quotes), complicating the road to reaching the world championship in 2022.
Before the start of the draw, it was known that only one team from the group will go directly to the World Cup, while the second will go looking for happiness through the playoffs. From the first basket we immediately took out the Frenchman, who is impossible to get ahead of, the optimists will forgive me. Because there will be enough resources to launch four different compositions. Nor will it be easy against Finland and Bosnia, which the author did not want to see in the group with the “blue-yellow”. The opponents are very scathing and you shouldn’t expect an easy walk. We will have to demonstrate the level from one game to another.
But the biggest fear is built around the figure of the head coach. Now it is not known if Andriy Shevchenko will lead the national team, or if another specialist will start working with the team. Changing the helmsman can be challenging, but we believe in the best. Ukraine managed to prove their professional suitability in games with the tops and will definitely fight in any group.
Prediction: second place and fight in the playoffs.
Sergey shvets… Revenge is served cold! 1: 7 will still burn the soul for a long time, so there will be a chance for revenge. It is true that it is almost impossible to believe in the success of revenge. Even if the situation in the world levels off, most of us are vaccinated and we will forget about the pandemic. In different weight classes, France has the feeling that a conveyor belt is working to supply stars on a continental scale. In our country, this is a piece product that we produce very rarely. And the preconditions that the situation will drastically change are not yet visible. Therefore, it remains to compete with Finland and Bosnia for second place.
The experience of previous campaigns (selection for Euro and League of Nations) shows that we have already surpassed the status of the gray middle peasant, now we must confirm that we are closer to the giants of the category. And the main rival will not be Bosnia (Dzeko is not rejuvenating, but on the contrary has approached the final stage of his career), but Finland, who deservedly received a ticket to the continental championship. Not surprisingly, Kanerva’s team recently defeated France on a freight train and battled Italy. However, there are examples of defeats from Poland and Bosnia itself. In the end, if we exclude the possibility of the influence of external factors, we still have more personnel options, so Ukraine should take second place in the group.
Forecast: second place with 16 points.
Vlad Petrushevsky. Ukraine has a group within which it is difficult to predict something extremely obvious, abstruse and intricate for the perception of the fan. Even the current level of “blue-yellow” allows them to beat teams like Finland, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Andriy Shevchenko, who will likely step down after the EURO, set the direction for the project, laid the groundwork and ensured a certain bold flair for the Ukrainians. Yes, there is room for progress, as well as a lack of prerequisites for regression even with a new mentor. Also, we will potentially see most of the current team in Qatar.
France does not need a special introduction, but it must seriously evaluate its chances in face-to-face meetings. In theory, both the “tricolor” and the “blue-yellow” can lose points to the aforementioned opponents, but still we should hardly trust the first place of the group. The second position will be a natural confirmation of Ukraine’s ambitions. A jump over your head is a nice anomaly, but a finish in any other position will be perceived as a failure.
Forecast: second place.
Alexander Ryzhenko… The words may seem hackneyed, but the “yellow-blue” should rank second in the group and march into the playoffs. Why? First of all, more than half of the players on the Finnish team play in Scandinavia, where the championships are just starting in March (but at least one goal from the legendary Suomi Teemu Pukki against Pyatov / Buschan, I’m still ready to bet). Second, Bosnia, along with Herzegovina, can be proud to have Dzeko (Roma), Krunich (Milan), Pjanic (Barça), Goyak (Torino), but not all are the first players. while others compete in more mediocre championships. Talking about tough matches in Kazakhstan is a classic, but it is unclear what the Kazakhs themselves think about it, as they have only won one home game out of the last seven. I deliberately omit France, because we met recently and this result did not bring positive emotions.
It is extremely difficult to predict the joints that will take place only in a year and a half. The opponents of the second basket can be called “passed.” But it’s still unclear what state our team will be in before those games. Malinovsky, Zinchenko and Yarmolenko will remain only on the sidelines in their clubs, what will happen to us with the goalkeeper position, what kind of football will Shakhtar and Dynamo show? Rather, I am inclined to think that there will be a playoff exit that we will overcome on the way to Qatar.
Forecast: second place in the group and elimination in the play-offs.
