The second-round group stage match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers took place at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, where the Ukrainian national team met the Azerbaijani national team. Georgiy Sudakov's goal allowed Ukraine to open the scoring, and Oleksandr Zinchenko's handball in his own penalty area allowed the hosts to equalize, **UNN** reports.
How the match went
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Compared to the match against France, the head coach of the blue-yellows, Serhiy Rebrov, made three changes to the starting lineup. Instead of Yehor Yarmolyuk, Oleksiy Hutsulyak, and Artem Dovbyk, Oleh Ocheretko, Artem Bondarenko, and Vladyslav Vanat came on from the first minutes.
Events unfolded dynamically. Already in the 3rd minute, Vanat broke through to meet the goalkeeper and, after contact with a defender, fell to the ground. The referee initially awarded a penalty, but after reviewing VAR, he canceled his decision.
Overall, in the first half of the match, our national team had the advantage, making five shots on the Azerbaijani goal, but the score remained goalless until halftime.
At the beginning of the second half, the Ukrainians increased their speed. Oleksandr Zinchenko, who found himself with the ball in the opponent's penalty area, could have scored, but a host defender blocked him. The very next attack was productive: Oleksandr Zubkov freed himself from guardianship on the right flank and made a targeted cross into the area of the 11-meter mark, from where Georgiy Sudakov accurately struck on the touch - 1:0.
Immediately after conceding the goal, the host coach made a substitution, bringing on Toral Bayramov. In the 70th minute, he won an aerial duel, after which the ball hit Oleksandr Zinchenko's hand. The appointed penalty was converted by the Azerbaijani captain Mahmudov.
Overall, the match ended in a 1:1 draw.
Man of the Match
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35% of fans chose goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin as the "Man of the Match" against Azerbaijan - the award for the best player of the match. Trubin received a rating of 6.5, made 1 save, gave 11 accurate passes out of 12, and also made one of two accurate long passes.
"What didn't work out? We didn't win. We didn't create enough chances. Unfortunately, we only started putting pressure in the penalty area in the last 15 minutes. We should have done it earlier. I understand it was difficult against five defenders. Firstly, the field was very difficult for creating chances. Secondly, the opponent didn't play like they did against Iceland. They were very compact. But that's no excuse. We should have put more pressure in the penalty area, we should have created more chances, but, unfortunately, it didn't work out," Rebrov said.
Answering the question of what he could say to the fans, Rebrov replied: "Patience. Wait for the next game. I am sure we will do everything to win."
"I understand that the fans expected something different from us today. Even if we had won 1:0, they would still say it wasn't enough. But you saw, we have a lot of injured players. Even today I couldn't use Hutsulyak, who got injured the day before the match. So it's difficult. It's really hard to play at this level. We are in a war, we need to support each other. We need to support our national team. Yes, I can be criticized and am criticized after every game. Even after the victory over Belgium, they said: "Why did you play so badly in the first half?" It's always like that, unfortunately. So I want to appeal to the fans: we all support our Armed Forces now, but the national team is also Ukraine. Ukrainians play here. Everyone works at their maximum here - both me and the players. I would like the fans to support the guys. We haven't lost anything yet, there are many games ahead. Yes, we no longer have the right to make a mistake. But I am sure that the players understand this. Therefore, I ask the fans: yes, we deserved this criticism, we accept it, but now we all need to stick together. We haven't been eliminated anywhere yet," Rebrov noted.
"Draw conclusions after your game"
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The fans who attended the national team's match in Baku, and according to preliminary estimates, there were about a hundred of them, were not thrilled with the team's performance and expressed their indignation, telling the players to draw conclusions.
After two matches in Group D, Ukraine is in third place in the table. Azerbaijan is below. France - Iceland are playing their match now. As of 22:20, the score in the match is 0:0.
