Dynamo Kyiv manager says Wales should step aside and hand Ukraine World Cup spot

Of course I understand the emotion and sentiment contained here and I am all for scheduling of games to ensure the players of Ukraine are as match fit and prepared as they would be under normal circumstances. However, I do not believe there can be a single Ukraine player or supporter who would be comfortable taking a place in the World Cup Finals which they would not have earned on merit while denying two other nations their chance to qualify. Allow more time between the semi final and a potential final should they progress. That is the best and only fair way to proceed.

While every altruistic person (other than Putin, Lavrov, Lukashenko and their ilk) will have every sympathy with Ukraine's national football team, sport is not about relinquishing something that has been gained in competition. Why Scotland and Cymru stepping aside?. If any team is to step aside, why not put all the qualifiers' names along with Scotland and Cymru in a hat and see who comes out. If we're lucky, it might be the host nation Qatar, a country which acquired the Finals through corruption and is particularly repressive.

Why stop at the qualifying rounds? Why not just hand them the trophy? I'm all for accommodating the team with extra time to train but not simply handing them a free pass at the expense of other teams. Sport is after all a competition otherwise what's the point of a tournament?

Nu e posibil, frate

Not the view of my Ukraine friends

It's easy for Dynamo Kyiv Mircea Lucescu to say how Wales & Scotland should step aside for Ukraine seeing his country of Romania failed. Would he have said the same about Romania who last appeared at a World Cup 24yrs ago? Doubt it. What next, I hear you ask? The teams in Ukraine's group to play without goal keepers so they can win. Ukraine to be given a place in the final. Hell, why not give them the trophy and have done with it. He and others should stop using emotive language to both Wales & Scotland. We got where we are on merit not charity. Bloody fool!

I want to agree with him. It is heart breaking. I hope a solution can be found that gives them a distraction and keeps their pride intact. Could other countries take Ukrainian players into their teams if they don't get through, to represent solidarity with them and those who have be forced to flee to other countries, and keeps them involved in some way people can invest in? That's the only idea I can think of that might not anger or insult players/sponsors/fans and it is probably still insulting in ways I can't imagine... 😭

Sometimes there are things bigger than sport. I for one would support helping our Ukrainian friends in this

If any country should step aside, it should be England. They have had plenty of opportunities to participate in World Cup finals.

Does Lucescu suggest that Cymru and Scotland specifically step aside? In the quote he merely suggests that the Ukraine could be given free passage to the finals, not exactly the same thing.

As if 😄

When did this silly sport become Britain’s Got Talent? Sob stories do not decide who wins surely. I long for a free Ukraine as much as anyone. But this is silly. Should every team Ukraine then face step aside until the final when the other finalists should step aside to hand them the World Cup. I don’t care about football. But if a sport is not about ability and availability and competition, what is the point of it?