Guide to the main match Wales – Ukraine: history, bets, broadcast
June 5, Sunday, the national team of Ukraine will play the main match of the year. The Blue and Yellows will face Wales in the final of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Cardiff. The winner will receive a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. Sport Arena tells everything you need to know about the match Wales – Ukraine: lineups, bets, broadcast, predictions.
History: the sad achievement of Wales
The Wales national team has played in the final part of the World Cup only once in its history. Moreover, it happened in 1958. In other words, the Welsh have missed 15 World Cups so far. At the same time, Wales has participated in the world championships since 1950.
Note that the record in this nomination belongs to Cuba and Indonesia, who played at the 1938 World Cup and have missed 19 tournaments since then.
Composition: cheaper than in Ukraine
Unlike Scotland, whose total cost of the squad exceeded the cost of the Ukrainian roster, the Wales squad is cheaper than the Ukrainian one: 143.6 million euros against 214 million (according to Transfermarkt). At the same time, there are five players in the Dragons, whose value exceeds 10 million euros: Ethan Ampadu from Chelsea (15 million), Ben Davis from Tottenham (20), Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forrest (15), Daniel James from Leeds (18) and Harry Wilson of Fulham (17).
If we talk about the leaders of the national team, then they are the same as before – Davis, Joe Allen, Aaron Ramsey, Garrett Bale, Daniel James.
Moreover, Bale and Ramsey play much better in the national team than in clubs. Judge for yourself: Bale has 7 matches and one goal for Real Madrid this season (290 minutes played), but five goals for the national team in the qualifying tournament (yes, they were scored in two matches, one of which with Belarus), and two in the semi-finals playoff against Austria.
Ramsey has made a total of 18 appearances (744 minutes) for Juve and Rangers this season, scoring two goals and providing two assists without scoring a decisive penalty for Rangers in the Europa League final. And in the national team, Aron has four goals and an assist in 11 matches.
Coach: still with “acting” prefix
Yes, Robert Page, who has been working with the team since November 2020 and has already played 21 matches as acting head coach, still has not got rid of the unpleasant prefix. It is quite possible that this will happen at the end of the match with Ukraine, and the fate of the specialist depends on its outcome.
It must be admitted that Page, who has four dozen matches for the Dragons when he was a football player, became the national team coach by chance. A specialist whose coaching career peaked in Ligue 1 with Port Vale and Northampton (111 matches in total, 41 wins, 46 losses and 24 draws, averaging 1.3 points per match) and places in the second half of the table, at the helm of the national team was after the suspension due to the scandal involving grievous bodily harm, Ryan Giggs.
Page at that time worked as an assistant to the ex-MJ midfielder and at first led the national team in friendly matches and matches of the League of Nations, and then began qualifying for the 2022 World Cup with her and took her to Euro 2020. Admittedly, so far, Page, for whom the match with Ukraine will be the 22nd at the helm of the national team (so far the specialist has nine wins, seven draws and five defeats), copes well with his tasks.
Qualification for the 2022 World Cup: ahead of the Czech Republic, knocked out Austria
At the European Championships, Wales performed quite well. Yes, the sensational result of Euro 2016 – the semi-finals – Bale and the company did not repeat, but the 1/8 finals for the Welsh is a pretty good indicator. Yes, Wales needed four points to qualify from the group. Yes, in the 1/8 finals the Dragons were defeated by Denmark, but the final 16th place, I think, satisfied both fans and specialists.
And the Welsh played the group round of the 2022 World Cup qualification with dignity: one defeat, four wins and three draws in eight matches. As a result, the second place in the group (it is now unrealistic to get ahead of Belgium), is higher than the strong Czech Republic.
And already in the semi-finals of the qualifying playoff round, Wales beat Austria, which really shook our nerves and beat the blue-yellows at Euro 2020.
How they used to play with Ukraine: the blue-yellows have an advantage
The Ukrainian national team played against Wales three times. Two matches were official, one was friendly. Official – held as part of the selection for the 2002 World Cup, and both ended with the same score – 1:1. Goals in the blue-and-yellows were scored by Shevchenko (in Cardiff) and Zubov (in Kyiv). Then, by the way, the blue-yellows finished second in their group, gaining 17 points – four less than Poland. Wales finished the selection in the fifth position, passing ahead of Belarus and Norway.
In the meantime, the last match between Ukraine and Wales is dated March 2016. Then in Kyiv, the blue-yellows in a friendly match minimally won – 1:0, thanks to a goal by Yarmolenko. And of those who then took to the field, Pyatov, Stepanenko and Sidorchuk retain the chance to play with the Welsh, except for Yarmolenko.
Referee: lucky for Ukraine
The final playoff match of the 2022 World Cup qualification between Wales and Ukraine will be refereed by the Spanish referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Laos.
Mateu Laos will be assisted by Pau Sebrian Davis and Roberto del Palomar, the fourth referee is Carlos del Cerro Grande. The VAR referees are Juan Martinez Munuera and Ricardo de Burgos Bengoechea.
Laos has played four matches in the current qualifying tournament, in which it has shown 17 yellow cards (an average of 4.2 per game), and has not appointed a penalty. Laos is also familiar to Ukrainian fans and football players: it was he who served the match Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ukraine in the 10th round of the group stage, which ended with the victory of the blue-yellows (2: 0), which brought Petrakov’s team a ticket to the playoffs.
How Wales prepared for the match against Ukraine
The Welsh have played three games this year. In March, they played a draw with the Czech Republic and defeated Austria in the semi-final of the playoff qualification. And in June, in the League of Nations, they lost to the team of Poland. At the same time, in the last game, Page performed far from the main team.
“How can you risk a ticket to the World Cup,” the coach explained. “We have a goal – the World Cup, and for the sake of it we will do anything.”
Who do the bookmakers bet on?
As of Saturday morning, analysts give a slight advantage to Ukraine. Blue-yellow bets taken at the rate of 1×2.72 against 1×2.82 – for the victory of Wales. A draw comes with a coefficient of 3.25.
Wales
Qualifying play-off final
06/05/2022
19:00
Ukraine
Wales victory
2.72
Ukrainian victory
2.82
But other options can be considered. For example, take into account the fact that Wales have completed only two of the last ten matches without conceding goals. And he didn’t score in those two. And if so, then the bet both will score “yes” for 1×2.0 looks pretty good. Or “total over 1.5” for 1.46.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
