On May 1, the Ukraine national team began preparations for the playoff matches of the 2022 World Cup and Nations League. These days, blue-and-yellow continue working in a double training format. Goalkeeper of "Vorskla" Dmytro Ryznyk and defensive midfielder of "Dnipro-1" Oleksiy Hutsulak talked about the specifics of the preparatory process.

Dmytro Ryznyk: "We are preparing for very important games. We understand that this is necessary for us. The workload is good, we need to endure it in order to be ready for matches. We miss all the exercises, we miss the ball and the games. We hope there will be more such games."

When the war started, I was at home. To maintain my form, we trained as a group on the central stadium in Poltava.

I feel sorry for my relatives, I worry. Now it's a very difficult time for Ukraine, but I think we will endure everything and things will be fine."

Oleksiy Hutsulak: "We are gradually getting into shape, getting used to the field. Before that, I trained in Lviv on artificial pitches, so it's a bit difficult to transition, my legs get tired faster. I'm immersing myself in work. Everything is new - the team, the coaches.

I know many of the guys, we've crossed paths many times, we play in the same league. We also played with Mykola Matviyenko at "Karpatski". All good, there are no problems in the team.

Working with the ball is always better for a football player than running around in circles. Game series give only positive emotions.

All my thoughts are now back in Ukraine. As soon as rockets hit Lviv, acquaintances immediately called me. The electricity went out... It's very unpleasant because you're here, everything is fine, you're training, you have some positive emotions. But there people are sitting in bomb shelters. It's hard to watch and listen to it all. But we need to do everything to give our people positive emotions."

Recall that the 1/2 final playoff match of the World Cup qualification between Scotland and Ukraine is scheduled for June 1 at Hampden Park in Glasgow.