Scottish football legend Kenny Dalglish has asked Ukraine to focus on recovery rather than the 2022 World Cup.
Dalglish, who has made his name with Liverpool as a player and coach and has starred in the Scottish Premier League, insists Ukraine should not be put under pressure to qualify for the World Cup.
Earlier, Ukrainian midfielder Taras Stepanenko asked FIFA and UEFA to postpone the play-off for the second time as he believed the June schedule was unrealistic due to the events that escalated in his country.
The Ukrainian Football Association has also consistently rejected the Football Charity Association, insisting that it is ready to face Scotland in June in the World Cup qualifiers. The winner of this confrontation will face Wales, and the winner of this category will join England, Iran and the United States in Group Two.
However, she did not stop phone calls with Scotland and Wales, who have not attended the World Cup in more than five decades. All these calls came from all over the world, but Scotland fans will be pleased to hear Dalglish’s voice what many of them might think.
Dalglish suggests that if Ukraine did not qualify for the qualifiers due to not being able to fully prepare to face Scotland, or get an automatic slot, they would get an automatic slot for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Dalglish believes it would be better for Scotland to take on Wales and guarantee Ukraine a place in the 2026 final, which will be expanded to 48 teams instead of the usual 32.
“I don’t know what to do, but you have to respect the Ukrainian players and the Football Association,” Dalglish said. “It is not their fault that they are in the situation they are in.
“Some of the teams are playing elsewhere but they still have families there that have been greatly affected by it. I think it is unfair to put them under pressure in any way, shape or form. [give them] And he says an olive branch and says, in the next World Cup, you can go straight ahead, I don’t need to qualify.
“It would be a way to show your respect for them and at the same time move forward with this World Cup in Qatar. And people will say: How do they get that?
“Well, if you want to bomb your places, kill your parents and kill your friends, that’s what you have to do to get it. I just think it would be good, if they want a solution, to give them that.”
