This morning, the blue-and-yellow team greeted each other in Scotland. Yesterday evening, Andriy Lunin joined the squad, so now there are all 26 players that Oleksandr Petrakov relies on for the upcoming matches.

At breakfast, the team congratulated Georgiy Bushchan on his birthday, which is today. The boys warmly hugged their goalkeeper friend who turned 28 years old.

And in the evening, Georgiy received a game jersey with number 28 and autographs from all teammates and the head coach as a surprise gift from the team. This present was prepared secretly, so for the goalkeeper whose uniform differs from that of field players, this became an unexpected pleasant surprise.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

By the way, it is Georgiy who is featured today on the pages of a newspaper that hotel guests can get for free at the reception. The photo shows yesterday's arrival of Ukrainians to their location.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

In the morning, after breakfast, the guys took a walk along the shore of Scotland's most important river—the Clyde, which originates in the southern slopes of the Southern Uplands. Although the promenade was voluntary, most of the team wanted to stroll and breathe fresh air. It is quite cool in Glasgow today (14 degrees Celsius), but when there's no rain, one can walk around happily. So the players took advantage of the opportunity. Note that every passerby or even a driver who passed by considered it necessary to support Ukrainians. Friendly shouts of "Ukraine!" and raising a big thumb up—clear evidence of strong support that Brits have been giving our nation since the first days of the war. The footballers responded in kind, thanking for warm words and agreeing to every proposal to take photos.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

Regarding the dilemma about tomorrow's match that arose among many Scots, Graeme Souness, a legendary former captain of Scotland's national team, said in an interview with Sunday Times that it will be hard for him to support his country: "I constantly think how I should deal with this. One part of me keeps thinking that this is just football, while the other denies—do I really want them to win? Tomorrow will be very emotional. I don't just want Ukraine to go to Qatar—I want her to win at this championship! How long are we going to bury our heads in the sand and not acknowledge the situation the world is currently in?"

Photo by the press service of the UAF

After lunch in Glasgow, it started to rain, and the weather became typical for British climate. Before training, the rain stopped but resumed as soon as Ukrainians finished their official session.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

However, in the end, the grass at "Hampden Park"—in excellent condition despite constant rain. So the blue-and-yellow team conducted their official training session in a good mood. The guys are well aware of what awaits them tomorrow, so they worked diligently and happily at the same time. After warming up, relay races, and square football, players trained game series during which the coaching staff had an opportunity to make final assessments about tomorrow's playing model.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

In the pre-game session, all 26 players participated. As predicted by national team doctors the day before, Denis Popov joined the general group and worked on equal terms with his teammates.

By midnight today, the coach will decide on the 23 players who will be in the matchday squad (this information will be published on the UAF website tomorrow morning), and before leaving for the game—on the starting lineup. There is one day until the match that Ukraine and the whole world are eagerly (and impatiently) waiting for half a year.

Alexander Hryvinsky, press secretary of the national team

List of players in the Ukrainian national team

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

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Denis Popov (all—«Dynamo» Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko, Valeri Bondar (both—"Shakhtar" Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko ("Everton", England), Eduard Sobolev ("Brugge", Belgium), Taras Kachaраба ("Slavia", Czech Republic).

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

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk (SK "Dnipro-1"), Roman Yaremchuk ("Benfica", Portugal), Danilo Sikan ("Hansa", Germany).