More than just a game: World Cup qualifier is 'like a moment of hope' for Ukraine
Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr Petrakov showed up at a military enlistment office in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and asked for a weapon. "I am 64 but I felt it was normal to do this," Petrakov told a reporter from the Guardian a month later. "I think I could take two or three enemies out." The territorial defense force thanked him but declined the offer since Petrakov ...
Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr Petrakov showed up at a military enlistment office in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and asked for a weapon.
"I am 64 but I felt it was normal to do this," Petrakov told a reporter from the Guardian a month later. "I think I could take two or three enemies out."
The territorial defense force thanked him but declined the offer since Petrakov had no military experience. As manager of Ukraine's national soccer team, he was needed elsewhere.
Which brings us to Sunday, when, on a well-manicured patch of grass in Cardiff, Wales, Petrakov can deliver a blow as important to Ukrainian sovereignty as anything he could have accomplished on
