Little but pride was on the line for these nations who both saw their FIFA World Cup qualification dreams dashed by Sweden in the play-offs back in March.
Both were looking towards the future, yet some familiar Polish faces helped them make the early running, albeit creating chances proved difficult. Robert Lewandowski watched on in anguish as Nicola Zalewski’s cross whistled across goal in front of him, before Ukraine had the ball in the net through Viktor Tsygankov, whose celebrations were quickly ended by the offside flag.
Teenager winger Oskar Pietuszewski was standing out on his first start for his country, but failed to beat the onrushing Anatoliy Trubin when he was slotted in on goal. Sebastian Szymanski then fired over as the hosts’ pressure intensified, but their failure to make that count saw them punished against the run of play.
Tsygankov won the ball in the midfield and Roman Yaremchuk pounced, driving forward before unleashing from 25 yards into the bottom corner for a first international goal since November 2024. Ukrainian momentum only increased from there, and Yehor Nazaryna whistled narrowly wide as they threatened to double their advantage.
The visitors managed just that before the break through Andriy Yarmolenko, who marked his first cap since March 2025 by turning home Tsygankov’s low cross at the back post, taking him to within a goal of Andriy Shevchenko’s all-time record 48-goal haul for Ukraine.
No fewer than five changes were made by Poland boss Jan Urban at the break in response, one of which saw the largely anonymous Lewandowski withdrawn. Just as in the first period, the hosts were quicker out of the blocks, yet they passed up a gilt-edged chance to reduce the arrears. Mykola Matviyenko’s square pass across his own box was pounced on by HT substitute Karol Świderski, but he was denied at point-blank range by Trubin.
Mateusz Żukowski failed with a late effort as Poland’s comeback ultimately never materialised, with this defeat only serving to compound the misery of missing out on a first World Cup finals since 2014. Ukraine, on the other hand, emerge victorious in their first game under Andrea Maldera, and could win back-to-back away matches for the first time since 2024 when they travel to Denmark next week.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Viktor Tsygankov (Ukraine)
