For Ukraine, World Cup qualifying is chance to make a difference as war rages back home

GLASGOW, Scotland — Oleksandr Zinchenko tried to hold back his emotions, but when the Ukraine midfielder attempted to describe the importance of his country's World Cup play-off semifinal against Scotland in Glasgow on Wednesday (streaming LIVE, ESPN+, 2:30 p.m. ET), his lip began to tremble and the tears started to flow.

When Manchester City's Zinchenko and his Ukrainian teammates face Scotland at Hampden Park, it will be 99 days since Russia invaded their country and instigated a war that continues to rage, with towns and cities in the east of Europe's largest nation still under siege and citizens enduring a daily battle for survival. Football matters, and qualifying for the World Cup matters even more, but for Zinchenko, his tears delivered perspective.

«Every Ukrainian wants one thing: to stop this war,» Zinchenko said during the news conference. «I have spoken with people from all over the world, I have spoken to Ukrainian kids who just don't understand what's happening, and they have one dream: to stop the war. But when it comes to football, we have our own dream: we want to go to the World Cup, to give these incredible emotions to Ukrainians, because they deserve it so much in this moment.»

In many ways, this is a game of unimaginable proportions not only for Ukraine, but also for Scotland. For Ukraine, to be able to muster a team — 15 of the squad that played in the last competitive fixture against Bosnia in November, 2021 play for teams in the Ukrainian Premier League — is remarkable considering the situation. The pressure on Oleksandr Petrokov's players to deliver some joy to their fellow Ukrainians will be huge. But for Scotland, a team that has not qualified for a World Cup since 1998, they know that their