“Not dead yet” didn’t help: the Ukrainian team lost to Russia in the semifinals
In the Netherlands, Ukraine lost to the Russian national team in the semi-finals of the European Futsal Championship.
In the Ukrainian studio of the TV channel “UA:Pershy” before the match, the journalist (as well as during the game, the commentator) never tired of emphasizing that “Russia is the aggressor” and “Crimea is Ukraine.” But it is worth noting that the Ukrainian coach Stanislav Goncharenko, invited as an expert, called not to engage in politicization, but to focus on the sports component.
It is noteworthy that the head coach of the Ukrainian national team communicated with his players in Russian, which was clearly audible during time-outs.
At the same time, Ukrainian fans dominated the hall; their chants were clearly heard in the broadcast, including a scandalous one in which Russian leader Vladimir Putin was mentioned obscenely, and the anthem “Not yet dead.”
The first half ended with the scores 2:1 in favor of Russia, which initially led by two goals, but allowed Ukraine to win one goal back. In the second half, the Russians scored first, increasing the lead to two goals, but then the Ukrainians again reduced the gap to one.
With less than two minutes left, Ukraine earned a penalty, but failed to convert it. Team captain Petr Shoturma made an unsuccessful shot. As a result, the match ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of the Russians.
The winner will now play the winner of the Spain-Portugal match in the final on Sunday.
Let us recall that since 2014, at almost all international tournaments, Russian and Ukrainian teams were separated by the organizers in order to avoid a meeting between them.
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