The day after the victory for the blue-and-yellow team started early. By 9 AM, breakfast was already underway as the team awaited a flight from Glasgow to Cardiff scheduled for 11:30 AM.

So head coach Oleksandr Petrakov congratulated birthday boy Oleksandr Karavaev, who turns 30 today, in the bus. The entire team celebrated the jubilee with enthusiastic applause.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

The victory won the day before ensured a high spirits on his birthday, and the 10th assist in his career, made at the start of the second half, earned him plenty of compliments from teammates. In the evening, Oleksandr received the traditional birthday cake and a football shirt with autographs from his teammates.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

The flight to Wales' capital lasted an hour. Another 15 minutes were spent traveling from the airport to the St. David's hotel.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

Support from Ukrainians could be felt right after arriving in Wales. The bus driver proudly announced that they had personally ordered stickers with "Stand With Ukraine," which were now affixed to the doors.

The blue-and-yellow team settled on the banks of the River Taff, which flows into Cardiff Bay and then merges with the Bristol Channel before connecting to the Celtic Sea.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

So, simply from their hotel window, they could see a large number of yachts and boats moored to local piers. However, what caught the players' attention more was the presence of a ping-pong table near the dining area. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ruslan Malinovskiy were the first to grab rackets and start playing. The fact that central midfielders didn't go for lunch until they had played several short matches speaks volumes about their healthy sporting interest.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

After resting from their journey, the team went out for an evening training session at the House of Sport grounds of Cardiff City club. Players were divided into two groups. The 11 starters from yesterday's match worked on recovery exercises - just jogging and stretching. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad had a full practice with relays, passing drills, ball control, and game series. This way, the physical workload was evened out after Thursday, and tomorrow the whole team will be back on the pitch together.

Oleksandr Hlyvinskyi, press secretary of Ukraine's national team

Photos by the press service of the UAF

List of players in Ukraine's national team

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan («Dynamo» Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Dmytro Rytsnik («Vorskla» Poltava), Andriy Lunin («Real Madrid», Spain).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavaev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Dmytro Popov (all — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko, Valeriy Bondar (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Vitalii Mykolenko («Everton», England), Eduard Sobolev («Brugge», Belgium), Taras Kachaраба («Slavia», Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mykhaylo Mudryk (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykola Shaparenko (all — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Pichalenko (SK «Dnipro-1»), Andriy Yarmolenko («West Ham», England), Oleksandr Zinchenko («Manchester City», England), Ruslan Malinovskiy («Atalanta», Italy), Oleksandr Zubkov («Ferencváros», Hungary).

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk (SK «Dnipro-1»), Roman Yaremchuk («Benfica», Portugal), Danilo Sylva («Hansa Rostock», Germany).