The Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) reacted in a strange way to the defeat of the national team from Wales in the final of the play-offs for the right to play at the World Cup in Qatar.

For some reason, the federation decided to recall the national team of Russia.

“You did everything to give hope and be proud of your game on the football field in this difficult time for Ukraine!

Thanks to Alexander Vasilyevich Petrakov and his team.

You took the national team in a situation where almost no one believed that we could qualify for the final stage of the 2022 World Cup, and gave us hope.

We lost the fight, but we have a lot of matches ahead of us.

And how many matches do you have, the Russian team?”

— wrote in the social networks of the organization.

At the same time, Valery Karpin's wards were simply not allowed to prove themselves.

By decision of UEFA, the team was excluded from the list of participants in the last qualifying round of the World Cup.

After the failure in Cardiff, some players also preferred to be reminded of politics.

For example, Manchester City midfielder Alexander Zinchenko, who played in the RPL for Ufa for a year and a half, also made an ambiguous statement after the final whistle.

“I don’t think that we deserved to be defeated, but the biggest victory that all of Ukraine is waiting for is the victory over evil and aggression,” the football player emphasized.

The RFU has not yet reacted to the comment of the UAF.

However, experts interviewed by RT believe that this should not be done.

According to the honorary president of the federation Vyacheslav Koloskov, otherwise you can sink to the level of colleagues.

“As they say, the dog barks, the caravan moves on.

Let them comfort their pride with the thought that they will not meet with the Russian team on the football field soon.

Fortunately, this largely depends on ourselves, ”the functionary emphasized.

He believes that silence in this situation will be the perfect demonstration of strength and wisdom.

As an example, he cited the reaction of the Russian public to the departure of the Zhovto-Blakyt.

Virtually no one allowed himself gloating, caustic jokes or joy.

On the contrary, many worried about Petrakov's wards and sincerely sympathized with them.

“These are all links in the same chain.

Either they make a uniform with the image of Crimea, or they put Bandera inscriptions on T-shirts.

Now there has been a reversal.

People provocateurs are doing this... Ukraine is constantly slipping into some kind of provocative actions.

This is another confirmation that political hatred has penetrated into sports, and football in particular.

Here is their true face, ”Koloskov added.

The former midfielder of the Russian national team Diniyar Bilyaletdinov agreed with him, calling what is happening in the neighboring country political hysteria.

“More than sure, the UAF was simply ordered from above to write this and try to hurt Russia once again, and the federation simply followed the order.

This already resembles hysteria on all fronts.

Useless supposedly patriotic swing, the exhaust from which is zero.

Of course, you should not react to such manifestations, ”said the athlete.

He expressed confidence that the players and coaches are hardly related to the unexpected post and are more likely to worry about the missed opportunity to go to the world championship than about the fate of another team.

“You need to understand that the result matters for the players first of all.

The Ukrainian team in the final of the joints was defeated by Wales and lost the opportunity to play at the World Cup in Qatar.

Believe me, they are now thinking exclusively about this, and not about Russia.

Everything else is a political conjuncture,” Bilyaletdinov emphasized.

A similar point of view is shared by the well-known coach Valery Nepomniachtchi.

According to him, athletes in the neighboring country are currently actually hostages of politicians and do not always have the opportunity to express their own point of view.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing surprising in what happened.

We understand that the mind there is at odds with the existing state of affairs, and everything is saturated through and through with politics.

At the same time, you need to understand that Ukrainian football players and coaches themselves are actually hostages of the situation.

People are forced to say what they want to hear from them, and not what they think, ”the specialist complained.

He also urged, instead of analyzing individual UAF posts on social networks, to think about how to ensure proper development of domestic football in the face of serious restrictions.

“We are not the first to be isolated.

You can remember how English teams were suspended from European competition for five years.

We must take this chance and prove to the whole world that we can’t be dealt with just like that,” Nepomniachtchi added.

The UAF is no stranger to taking provocative actions against Russia.

So, a few days before the start of Euro 2020, the country discussed more not the tournament itself, but the form of the Ukrainian national team.

Ukrainians placed on T-shirts the outlines of the country, whose borders included the Crimean peninsula, as well as the territories of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

They did not stop there and announced the phrases banned in Russia as the official slogans of the team at the championship of the continent.

True, the slogan had to be removed from the T-shirt, since UEFA regarded it as having political overtones and bearing militaristic meaning.

However, the outlines of Crimea have not gone away from the equipment.

Before the start of the play-off with Wales, the RFU announced that they had filed a complaint with FIFA.

“The Russian Football Union sent a protest to FIFA in connection with the violation by the Ukrainian Football Association of the rules of the organization, namely, the demonstration on the form of the national team of the image of Crimea as part of Ukraine,” the press service of the RFU reports.

Another one was sent on the facts of the statements of individual representatives of the UAF, "inciting hatred against Russian citizens."