Ukrainian women's national team players Yana Malakhova and Iryna Podolska commented on their loss to the Spanish team (0:5) in the final match of the 2023 World Cup qualification.

Yana Malakhova: "Spain has a very skilled team. The game was tough, as the Spanish players controlled the ball a lot. The score speaks for itself. We wanted to show more meaningful football. Such matches are good experience for the players. A lot of work needs to be done to compete at this level. We need to draw conclusions and move forward."

Mistakes always happen. We need to improve our physical fitness, individual technical skills, and team play.

Overall, we did good work. We played a sufficient number of matches at a high level against strong teams. Our main goal was to advance from the group stage. It didn't work out. We will analyze it and move forward. Only ahead."

Iryna Podolska: "Spain is stronger than Ukraine. We fought until the end, but we conceded many goals in the first half. After halftime, we played more compactly and confidently.

The Spanish team controls the ball well and quickly shifts it around, executing precise diagonal passes. This is what we lack."

We wanted to secure second place. But we lost many points in matches against Hungary and Scotland. So there were no chances for the necessary result anymore."

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

It should be noted that the Royal Spanish Football Federation conducted a social campaign in support of Ukraine during the Spain vs. Ukraine match.

At the start of the war, the Spanish government through the Ministry of Integration and Social Security initiated a program to help and care for refugees who arrived due to military actions in Ukraine.

Thanks to this campaign, some of these people were able to support our team at the stadium. There were nearly a hundred Ukrainians there, as well as Ukrainian children accompanying players at the start of the match.

2023 Women's World Cup Qualification

European Zone. Group B

16.09.2021. Faroe Islands — Spain — 0:10

17.09.2021. Hungary — Scotland — 0:2

21.09.2021. Scotland — Faroe Islands — 7:1

21.09.2021. Hungary — Spain — 0:7

21.10.2021. Ukraine — Faroe Islands — 4:0

22.10.2021. Scotland — Hungary — 2:1

26.10.2021. Ukraine — Spain — 0:6

26.10.2021. Faroe Islands — Hungary — 1:7

25.11.2021. Spain — Faroe Islands — 12:0

26.11.2021 Scotland — Ukraine — 1:1

30.11.2021. Hungary — Ukraine — 4:2

30.11.2021. Spain — Scotland — 8:0

08.04.2022. Hungary — Faroe Islands — 7:0

12.04.2022. Scotland — Spain — 0:2

24.06.2022. Ukraine — Scotland — 0:4

28.06.2022. Ukraine — Hungary — 2:0

02.09.2022. Faroe Islands — Ukraine — 0:3

02.09.2022. Spain — Hungary — 3:0

06.09.2022. Spain — Ukraine — 5:0

06.09.2022. Faroe Islands — Scotland — 0:6

Final standings