The Scottish football team became the new captain of Group 1 of League B of the League of Nations, after beating Ukraine 3-0 on Wednesday, in a match where locals took home the prize for the biggest push against an indifferent Ukrainian group. Perhaps self-confident, due to the remarkable superiority he demonstrated on his recent visit to Glasgow, Ukraine lacked the intensity that allowed them to win a clear 1-3 victory over Scotland last June in the World Cup qualifiers from Qatar. .
A circumstance that allowed the locals to take over the game in the first half as the Scottish players emerged victorious in contention over each divided ball.
If, due to dedication, work and intensity, Steve Clark’s men could not be blamed, the lack of precision and above all the rush of the Scottish internationals in the vicinity did not leave the domestic field with nothing.
And that didn’t stop Scotland from enjoying every now and then the good event, made clear in the 23rd minute with a shot from the edge of the penalty area by Stuart Armstrong that Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoly Tropin resolved with a big interference.
If Scotland lacked quality in the last metres, Ukraine hardly showed the talent so cherished by players like Andrey Yarmolenko, who disappeared in the entire first half, or Ruslan Malinovsky, who barely left the cross brushstrokes.
The fact that the Ukrainian attack was limited to the speed of young striker Mikhailo Modric, who returned to show the good manners he had already shown last week in the Champions League against Scottish Celtic Glasgow.
However, the vertical thrust of Shakhtar Donetsk’s Modric was not enough to contain Scotland’s rush at the start of the second half, as the locals once again took control of the match. But if the locals lacked clarity on the last pass in the first period, they lacked success on the second pass against the opposing goal.
As many as three times the goal has been around Scotland, but neither Che Adams, who first hits the ball into the crossbar and later sends the ball to the goalkeeper’s feet that looked to be headed for the goal, neither Chee Adams, nor Stuart Armstrong, who has it all. In his favor he sent the ball from the three sticks, and they managed to open the scoring.
A goal finally came for the Scottish team after 70 minutes of play, in a game in which John McGinn won the match over the entire Ukrainian defense. The Aston Villa midfielder was more ferocious than his counterpart in the fight for a rebound inside the area and signed 1-0, which rewarded the local team’s greater ambition.
Scotland, which decided the match permanently, with two goals from Lyndon Dykes, who showed in the 80th and 87th minutes the strength of the air match for the local team, finishing two corner kicks on the net.
Match sheet:
3 – Scotland: Gordon. Patterson (Hickey, AD 26), Hendry, McKenna, Tierney (Taylor, AD 85); McTominay, MacGregor; Armstrong (Frazer, d. 76), McGinn, Christy (McLean, d. 85), and Adams (Dikes, t. 76)
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0 – Ukraine: Tropin. Karavaev, Bondar, Matvienko, Mikhailichenko; Stepanenko (Sidorchuk, v. 46); Yarmolenko (Tsygankov, d.67), Pikhalyonok (Zubkov, d.83), Malinovskyi, Mudryk (Ihnatenko, d.83) and Dovbyk (Yaremchuk, d.67)
Objectives: 1-0. AD 70: McGinn. 2-0, AD 80: dams. 3-0, M 87, Dykes.
Rule: Maurizio Mariani (ITA). Show Ukraine Stepanenko, Bondar, Sidorchuk and Malinovsky a yellow card.
accidentsThe match corresponding to the first day of Group A of League B of the League of Nations was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow (UK).
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