The Ukrainian national team arrived in Yerevan after the match against Scotland. From Glasgow, the blue-and-yellow team departed at 2 AM local time and after five hours of flight, they landed in Armenia's capital almost at 10 AM (the time difference is three hours).

From Glasgow, 22 players arrived: Anatoliy Trubin set off to help the Ukrainian youth team, which will play its first match of the Euro-2023 playoff against Slovakia on September 23rd, while Viktor Kovalenko returned to his club's base to recover from a minor hamstring injury that requires up to two weeks of rehabilitation. Additionally, tonight at midnight, Eduard Sarapay is scheduled to arrive at the team camp.

Photo by Oleksandr Glyvinskyi

Meanwhile, Vitaliy Mykolenko's minor injury turned out to be not serious — the team doctors removed a small muscle inflammation that occurred earlier, and today the defender participated in training with the main group.

The practice took place on the pitch of the Technical Center of the Armenian Football Federation Academy. This sports complex, opened in 2010 and expanded to 2016, consists of ten football fields, four tennis courts, an indoor and outdoor pool, a sports arena under a roof, and a hotel. Currently, this is the largest football training center on the Caucasus.

Goalkeeper Yevhen Volynets also returned to training with the team after spending several days in Warsaw due to the absence of a British visa, and he arrived in Yerevan the day before and waited for the team at the hotel.

As soon as the blue-and-yellow team arrived for practice, they were greeted by unexpected weather changes. After daytime heat (28 degrees), strong winds suddenly picked up and rain started pouring down heavily. Locals say that such heavy rainfall hasn't occurred in Yerevan for three months.

Photo by Oleksandr Glyvinskyi

Thus, the Ukrainian team conducted their recovery training under a cold natural shower, which after a long flight and painful defeat should have refreshed them from fatigue and sadness. The head coach Olexander Petrakov had his own interpretation of the sudden climate change: "Punishment comes without fault," — noted the coach, urging the boys to work hard and breathe in the mountain air.

Photo by Oleksandr Glyvinskyi

This applied to that group of players who came on as substitutes or did not play yesterday. Today, the coaching staff divided the field players into two equal groups — ten people each. The starting lineup completed a 20-minute run and then headed back to the hotel for recovery (sauna and pool).

The other ten plus three goalkeepers did warm-up exercises, worked in a square formation, and then played "five on five" in series. And the game turned out to be quite rich with goals; at the end, the teams constantly exchanged successful attacks, so they had to play until someone scored: Roman Yaremchuk stopped the intense confrontation with his final shot.

Photo by Oleksandr Glyvinskyi

The blue-and-yellow team had no time for recovery. Tomorrow, the national team will have pre-match activities: at 16:30 local time, a press conference with the head coach and a player will start, followed by training on the pitch of Republican Stadium named after Vazgen Sargsyan (the first 15 minutes will be open to media representatives).

Ukrainian National Team Roster

Goalkeepers: Dmytro Ryndyk («Vorskla» Poltava), Andriy Lunin («Real Madrid», Spain), Yevhen Volynets («Kolos» Kovalivka).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Oleksandr Timchik, Illia Zabarny (all — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Mykhailo Matviienko, Serhiy Krivoshtov, Valeri Bondar, Bohdan Mikhailychenko (all — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko («Everton», England), Taras Kachaраба («Slavia», Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mihailo Mudryk, Oleksandr Zubkov (all — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov (both — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Pichalonok, Eduard Sarapay (both — SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Yarmolenko («Al-Ain», UAE), Ruslan Malinovsский («Atalanta», Italy), Daniilo Ignatenko («Bordeaux», France).

Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk («Brugge», Belgium), Artem Dovbik (SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk).

Reserves: Artem Besedin («Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksiy Hutsulyak (SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Yegor Nazarina («Zorya» Luhansk).

Oleksandr Glyvinskyi, press secretary of the Ukrainian national team