The head coach of the Ukrainian women's national team, Luis Cortés, commented on his team's loss to Scotland (0:4) in the 2023 World Cup qualification.

"A tough match. This is not the result we were hoping for. We put a lot of work into preparing for this game against Scotland. But it's very difficult to start a match with an early goal conceded. I won't criticize the referee's decision; that was her position regarding the penalty incident. You all saw everything clearly in the television broadcast. Regardless, the situation influenced the course of events in the match.

Photo by Oksana Vasylyeva

When we played against Scotland away, they had many opportunities but failed to capitalize on them, scoring only in the 93rd minute. Yesterday, they had significantly fewer chances, yet they converted all of them. This is football. The team needs to take control of small details throughout the match and not concede two goals from set pieces. At this level, opponents do not forgive carelessness.

Although the girls did not score against Scotland's national team, in the second half they did not stop trying to score and at least lift the spirits of Ukrainian fans. Unfortunately, we were unable to achieve that. 

Photo by Oksana Vasylyeva

So now we are looking forward to the next match against Hungary. For now, all our thoughts will be focused on winning this game," — noted the Spanish specialist at the post-match press conference. 

Recall that by conceding to Scotland, Ukraine lost their chances of advancing to the playoff for the 2023 World Cup. The maximum they can now achieve is 13 points, which are currently held by Scotland, but she will take them over due to head-to-head results, so according to the regulations, they cannot surpass her.

The next match for Luis Cortés' team will be against Hungary on June 28 in Rzhishchev at the "Stal" stadium (kickoff at 9 PM Kyiv time).