Very "suitable" time for weaving the next intrigue was chosen in Nezalezhnaya. While in Russia there is a Confederations Cup, in Kiev they discuss the possibility of the national team's refusal to participate in the final part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Photo: Anatolii Stepanov / Zuma / Global Look While 32 best national teams will take part in the championship, any national team wants to go to Ukraine, they want "that the national team successfully pass the qualification stage and demonstratively boycott the tournament, told Izvestiya "A high-ranking source in the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU).
Some Ukrainian football players also hold the same opinion.. In particular, ex-defender of "Dynamo" Stefan Reshko said that "the team needs to show themselves, take first place in the group, and then, it is not excluded, demonstratively refuse to travel to Russia". And he added that it would be "spectacular," written on the website of the national team.
In addition, in Nezalezhnaya expect "to lead the masses" - so that other countries have done the same.
The government and the parliament of Ukraine support this idea. In any way, it is necessary to ignore the World Cup 2018, the People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Alexander Marchenko. According to him, "a number of democratic countries are considering the option of boycotting the World Cup in Russia".
And in FFU are not so categorical of fear of possible sanctions from FIFA in regard to the national team. So the vice-president of the Football Federation of Ukraine Igor Kochetov avoided a direct answer to the question of the boycott, saying only that his country's team will solve problems as they come. Only one of the members of the FFU Executive Committee Artem Frankov admitted that boycotting the Ukrainian national team of the World Championship in 2018. In Russia is possible.
Photo: site of the Ukrainian national football team Due to these differences, the final decision to boycott the 2018 World Cup has not yet been made.
In Russia, the reality of the refusal of a neighboring country from the championship is treated with irony. The mundial in our country will not lose in entertainment because of the absence of the Ukrainian national team and "will definitely do without its participation," said the first vice-president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Nikita Simonyan. And he reminded Kiev of the words of Napoleon "From the great to the ridiculous - one step".
In the group I of the qualification stage, the Ukrainian team takes the fourth place after six matches, letting ahead of Turkey, Iceland and Croatia. In the wards of Andrew Shevchenko the same number of points (11) with the Turks, they are second only to additional indicators. To qualify for the 2018 World Cup, they need to take the first place in their group. If this does not happen, the team will have to take part in the play-offs.
The strongest teams of New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, Cameroon (the strongest national teams of their continents) and the current world champion - the team of Germany - arrived in our country at the Confederations Cup -. Several thousand fans came to support their players.
During the games neither delegations nor spectators had any serious comments on the host party: Russia fully justifies the high credit of FIFA in terms of organization, infrastructure and security. Thus, our country has shown full readiness to host the most prestigious international tournament - the World Cup - in 2018.