After a sudden cold snap that turned the warm days in Prague at the end of Ukraine's stay into winter, the blue-and-yellow team moved to the very south of Europe, where the climate once again brought them back to summer.

Here, on the island of Malta, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa, temperatures in mid-October hover around 30 degrees Celsius, surrounded by palm trees, exotic flowers, giant cacti, and orange and mandarin trees. In short, a blooming paradise where winter, at least as we know it, does not exist at all. Considering this, it's good that the match against Malta will take place in the evening (kickoff at 8:45 PM CET), when it won't be so hot.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The Ukrainians arrived at the airport in the capital city of Valletta late on the previous evening, having conducted a training session in Prague beforehand. Thus, their first practice in Malta immediately became official.

However, before leaving for the stadium, the national team's coaches and players met with children who were forced to leave Ukraine due to Russian aggression and have temporarily settled here. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, nearly 2,000 Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have come to Malta. Our refugees established a volunteer organization called "The Ukrainian Community Foundation of Malta," which managed to raise around €35,000 through various fundraising events this year. Part of these funds was used to purchase an emergency vehicle that was sent to the Kharkiv region in August last year during the liberation of Lyman and Izium. The rest of the money was also sent to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

During the meeting with the team, the children asked several questions about the players' lives: childlike directness always elicits sincere smiles and brings a positive mood. In memory of the meeting, Ukrainians from Malta presented the national team with a commemorative plaque.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

In turn, the young guests received photos and autographs from players and coaches of the national team, wishing them success in tomorrow's match. By the way, all children present at the meeting will support the team on the stadium.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The official training of blue-and-yellow took place at Malta's National Stadium, whose original name in Maltese sounds like "Grawnd Nazzjonali." The arena, built in 1981, can accommodate almost 17,000 spectators and is located in the village of Ta' Qali, three kilometers from the hotel where Ukraine’s team was staying in Attard. As local media reported, the stadium is only full for games of national teams when top-tier teams visit Malta, especially Italy or England. Therefore, locals predict that tomorrow's game will have around 7-8 thousand fans.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Today, all 24 players currently in the national team camp participated in the evening session. During the day, there was theory, and in the evening — the only full-team training before tomorrow's match with Malta. However, such a selection game format leaves no other options for preparation. The hour-long session traditionally focused on working out tactical schemes and determining the starting lineup for the match.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Tonight, before midnight, head coach Serhiy Rebrov will form the lineup for tomorrow's match that is decisive for Ukraine’s national team in terms of preserving chances to compete for a spot at Euro 2024.

National Team Roster

Goalkeepers: Georgii Bushchan ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Anatolii Trubin ("Benfica" Lisbon, Portugal), Dmytro Ryshnyk ("Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Defenders: Mykhailo Matviienko, Yurym Konoplyan (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Denys Popov, Oleksandr Karavaev (both — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Oleksandr Svatok ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Vitalii Mykolenko ("Everton" Liverpool, England), Illia Zabarnyi ("Bournemouth," England), Bohdan Mykhailichenko ("Dinamo" Zagreb, Croatia).

Midfielders: Vitalii Buyalskyi ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Taras Stepanenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, Georgii Sudakov, Yegor Nazarina (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Oleksandr Pikhalyonok ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Oleksandr Zinchenko ("Arsenal" London, England), Mykhailo Mudryk ("Chelsea" London, England), Serhiy Sydorchuk ("Waasland-Beveren," Belgium).

Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk ("Valencia," Spain), Artem Dovbyk ("Girona," Spain), Vladyslav Vanat ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Nazarii Rusyn ("Sunderland," England).

Oleksandr Hlyvinskyi, press secretary of the national team