Ukraine stun Scotland to keep World Cup dream alive and set up playoff final with Wales

Ukraine's World Cup dream remains very much alive after they beat Scotland 2-1 in their playoff semifinal at Hampden Park on Wednesday to set up a winner-take-all clash with Wales for a spot in Qatar.

Playing their first official game since Russia's invasion of the country in February, Ukraine put in a superb performance to outplay a Scotland team that must continue to wait for their first World Cup appearance since 1998.

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Captain Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring for the visitors with a fine lofted finish in the 33rd minute after beating the Scottish offside trap. Striker Roman Yaremchuk then gave Ukraine some breathing room with a header past Craig Gordon just four minutes into the second half.

That cushion proved necessary as Scotland threatened to make a comeback late on and pulled within one goal when Ukraine goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan let a Callum McGregor shot slip through his fingers and creep over the line with 11 minutes remaining.

But a Ukraine team that married passion and technical quality throughout were more than deserving of their victory and made sure of it in the final seconds when Artem Dovbyk found the net following a breakaway.

Now Ukraine, whose domestic league has been on hiatus since the Russian-instigated war began 99 days ago, are just 90 minutes away from the World Cup. The winner between Wales and Ukraine in Cardiff on Sunday (streaming LIVE, ESPN+, noon ET), will slot into Group B in Qatar, alongside England, the United States and Iran.