The international matchday competition was over, and the group draw for the Qatar World Cup was also over, and the leagues of various countries continued.
However, the news about the World Cup play-offs is endless. According to FIFA's previous plan, to this day, all the places have been created except for the intercontinental play-offs.
However, due to the postponement of the application of world-ranked 27th-ranked Ukraine to play against Scotland, the places in this group of European zone play-offs can only be left unresolved.
FIFA has agreed to Ukraine's plans to adjust the play-off against Scotland to June. Today, Ukraine's midfield core Stepanienko has directly called out to FIFA and UEFA in an interview, asking that the match against Scotland continue to be postponed indefinitely!
The 32-year-old plays for Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, making more than 200 appearances for the club. At the national team level, Stepanienko is an important defensive barrier in the midfield, and so far, Stepaninko has made 69 appearances for Ukraine, scoring four goals.
In an interview, Stepanienko said that the national team teammates simply did not have the physical qualities needed to participate in the game: "My question is, when you have not played for such a long time, how can you play such an important game? (World Preliminary Round Play-offs)"
Stepanienko said: "Every player knows that if you don't play for a long time because of injuries and other reasons, no matter how much you work out in the gym, how much you run, when you get on the pitch, everything becomes different. It's very hard to play one game [with Scotland] and we're also asked to play two games in 4 days (if winning and a Welsh duel) which is extremely difficult for us players and hopefully FIFA and UEFA will wake up to that and postpone the game so we have more time to prepare. ”
At present, Ukraine's football league has been suspended for more than a month, and most of the players are facing a situation of no ball to play and no games to play, and Stepaninko is one of them.
Romania's famous coach Lucescu shouted at FIFA in an interview with the media, hoping that Ukraine can get the green light and go directly to the final stage of the World Cup in Qatar without participating in the play-offs. Lucescu said: "In that case, it will be a great encouragement for the country of Ukraine! ”
In his seventies, Lucescu coached Ukraine for many years, leading his team to eight consecutive Ukrainian Premier League titles while coaching Miner Donetsk.
According to the World Cup draw, the winners of England, Iran, the United States and the European zone play-offs are grouped in the same group. At present, Wales has defeated Austria, waiting for the winners of Ukraine and Scotland. If Ukraine were to play in the play-offs normally, which team do you think would end up in the same group as the Anglo-American-Iranians?