The Ukrainian national football team secured its first victory in the qualification for the 2026 World Cup. In a dramatic match of the third round of Group D, Serhiy Rebrov's team defeated Iceland away, as reported by UNN.
Details
Already in the 14th minute of the game, Ruslan Malinovskyi, who returned to the country's main team after more than a year, converted Mykolenko's cross - 1:0.
However, 20 minutes later, the hosts equalized through Ellertsson - by the way, Malinovskyi's teammate at Italian "Genoa" - 1:1.
Nevertheless, the "blue and yellows" went into halftime with a lead, and a solid one at that. In the last minute of regular time, Oleksiy Hutsuliak capitalized on a mistake by an Icelandic defender in the penalty area - 2:1.
And as the last minute added to the first half was ending, Malinovskyi himself struck an irresistible shot from medium range - 3:1.
In the second half, Iceland played more actively, and already in the 58th minute, Gudmundsson scored one goal back - 3:2.
And 17 minutes later, Gudmundsson equalized the score - 3:3.
But the Ukrainians still managed to snatch a victory. In the 85th minute, Ivan Kaliuzhnyi scored his debut goal for the national team - 4:3.
And 4 minutes later, Oleh Ocheretko set the final score, with this goal also being his first in the jersey of the country's main team - 5:3.
In another match of Quartet D, France defeated Azerbaijan at home with a score of 3:0.
Thus, at the halfway point of qualification, Ukraine is in second place in the group with 4 points, ahead of Iceland by 1 point. The leaders with the maximum number of points are the French, while Azerbaijan remains the underdog. The "blue and yellows" will play against this team in the next round on Monday, October 13, in a nominally home match, which will take place in Krakow, Poland.
Recall
The Ukrainian national team drew 1:1 with Azerbaijan in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Before that, the Ukrainians lost to France with a score of 0:2 in the first match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.