UKRAINE TO FACE SCOTLAND IN PLAYOFFS

Ukraine have been drawn with Scotland after the draw for the World Cup playoffs in the European region was done on Friday. The Ukrainians secured their place in the playoffs after finishing in second place in Group D behind leaders and defending champions France.

Two-time World Cup winners France had to go through the qualifiers to secure their passage to next year’s FIFA World Cup tournament on Qatari soil and they did just that by winning Group D. They will be able to defend the title they won three years ago in Russia when hostilities begin in Qatar at the end of next year.

France became world champions for the second time at the 2018 edition of the World Cup hosted by Russia. They defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final to add to the title won on home soil in 1998.

Ukraine will have to see off Scotland in the playoff semi-finals to have a chance of qualifying for Qatar 2022. Scotland are one of the most in-form teams in Europe after they won their last six games in the qualifiers to finish as the second best team in Group F behind Denmark. Scotland made it six wins from their last six qualifiers when they beat Denmark 2-0 in their last group game. The Danes were looking to make it a perfect record of ten wins from ten games in the group, but Scotland had other ideas. John Souttar and Che Adams scored either side of the half-time interval to give Scotland the win over Denmark.

Ukraine will have to be at their best if they want to qualify for the playoff final ahead of Scotland. They will face the winner of the playoff semi-final between Wales and Austria in the final if they see off Steve Clarke and his Scotland players.