The entire day on Monday until leaving for training, the blue-and-yellow team spent at the Radon Plaza hotel. The day seemed rather gloomy, although in Bosnia and Herzegovina it was about seven to eight degrees warmer than in Kyiv.

The national team arrived early for the official pre-match events — the road from Sarajevo to Zenica took exactly one hour (the distance is approximately 70 km).

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

The stadium with the eloquent name "Bilino Polje" was built as far back as 1972. This is the home arena of the local club "Celik" (in Ukrainian — "Steel") — a three-time champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which dropped to a lower league at the end of last season.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

It is on this stadium, which can accommodate 15 thousand spectators, that the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina played its first match. Until 2008, "Bilino Polje" was called a curse for opponents because the national team did not lose here in 15 consecutive matches.

However, times have changed: in this qualifying cycle, Bosnians only once played at home and twice lost on their own turf. In any case, the fact that the hosts have lost all chances of making it to the playoffs does not affect our team's fighting spirit. The players are well aware that they need to achieve results themselves first, and then look at the score in the parallel match Finland — France.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

Before the start of the evening training, Oleksandr Petrakov greeted the birthday boy — Viktor Tsygankov, who turned 24 today. The gift from the team is traditional — a shirt with numbers corresponding to his age and signatures of teammates. "And tomorrow we are waiting for you to greet us and yourself on the football field," — wished the coach to the player.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

In the first part of training, warm-up exercises again included interesting game drills from fitness and rehabilitation coach Vyacheslav Ruzhenets — jumping into each other's palms, gently pushing a teammate in the shoulder, playing tag with a football ball...

The work was supplemented with tasks for coordination and quick decision-making. After players received positive emotional charge, the coaching staff moved on to the main work — pre-match training aimed at finalizing all preparatory processes before the main match in this qualifying stage.

Training took place with characteristic enthusiasm and energy from the national team members for maximum effect from the performed work. "Bilino Polje" Ukrainians left in a positive mood, with which they are planning to come here tomorrow for the game against the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will start at 21:45 Kyiv time.

Ukraine National Team Roster

Goalkeepers: Andriy Pyatov ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Georgiy Bushchan ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Dmytro Rytsnik ("Vorskla" Poltava).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarny, Oleksandr Tymchyk (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Mykhailo Matviienko, Serhiy Kryvcov, Viktor Kornienko (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Eduard Sobolev ("Brugge", Belgium), Taras Kachaраба ("Slavia", Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Andriy Yarmolenko ("West Ham United", England), Taras Stepanenko ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Shaparenko, Vitaliy Buyalsky (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Oleksandr Zinchenko ("Manchester City", England), Ruslan Malinovskyi ("Atalanta", Italy), Oleksandr Zubkov ("Ferencvaros", Hungary), Viktor Kovalenko ("Spezia", Italy).

Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk ("Benfica", Portugal), Artem Dovbyk (SK "Dnipro-1"), Daniilo Sinkan ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Denys Harmash ("Dynamo" Kyiv).

Oleksandr Hlyvinskyi, press secretary of the national team of Ukraine