Ukraine players show their nation’s culture is alive and kicking

It would not be a huge surprise if the ball that scored Ukraine’s first official goal was still travelling. They were 3-0 down against Hungary in the western city of Uzhhorod when, with virtually the final action, Ivan Hetsko lined up a free-kick just beyond the edge of the “D” and struck it with such shuddering force that it rebounded straight out of the net. The strike meant nothing and everything: it was 29 April 1992 and Ukraine would take some years to assemble a committed XI in the post-USSR shakedown, but Hetsko’s thunderbolt had given them a form of lift-off.

“It was very difficult for us at first and I think we are in a similar position now,” says Myron Markevych, who was overseeing Volyn Lutsk in the inaugural Ukrainian championship back then and later managed the national team. “Except we had to begin from zero then, and today we are basically starting from minus two.”

When Ukraine face Scotland at Hampden Park it will be less a rebirth than a reminder that, much as Russia might wish to erase the country’s cultural identity, its football heritage remains truly alive. The act of playing for a World Cup place on Wednesday night, and over the next five days if all goes well, is both one of defiance and of expectation that, despite everything, good things can lie ahead. But Markevych is right: Ukraine approach the tie from a standing start at best and it would be a seismic achievement if an undercooked, though highly talented, team can overcome battle-hardened opponents in both Glasgow and Cardiff.

“The team has been training here for a month, and before the war I was at a training camp with Shakhtar, so I have the impression that this is one continuous training camp,” said Andriy Pyatov, the veteran goalkeeper,