After everything, after the celebrations on the pitch and the celebrations in the stands and the Icelandic-style hand claps, a curious blankness seemed to descend on the Ukrainians. One by one, player after player shuffled towards the team bus in a kind of crumpled stupor, not yet able to process what any of this meant.
"I'm very tired, there are no emotions," Georgiy Sudakov said with a sigh. "I left everything in the locker room," said Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Perhaps this was the logical consequence of a win that meant everything and changed nothing.
Ukraine's players had emptied every last drop of themselves into the Wroclaw turf, summoned a spell of pure emotion and pure fervour, qualified their country for a fourth consecutive European Championship. But victory hits a little different when the stakes are largely theoretical.
Defeat, too.
"It would be a shame to lose to someone else," the Iceland coach, Åge Hareide, said. "But to lose to Ukraine... it's OK." War shifts the parameters of sport in new and confusing directions. Everyone seems to agree that Ukraine qualifying for Euro 2024 has a special significance, but what exactly? Joy for a grieving people, a little succour amid unthinkable hardship? Or are there tangible goals that can be achieved by their presence in Germany this summer?
Denne historien er fra March 28, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra March 28, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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