Watching football in the center of Kyiv turns out to be a more unusual experience than standing behind the sweaty bars of home. Wales’ 1-0 victory was met with restrained stoicism by locals and, of course, there is a war that puts the football experience in a different context. You learn this as soon as you start talking to someone who is watching.
The first fan I turned to for a post-match reaction, Alexander, 25, works at the morgue in the country’s second city, Kharkiv, and is in Kyiv over the weekend. Six bodies a day arrive at the facility, including Russian soldiers exchanging for Ukrainian casualties. He offers to show me photos, which I immediately refuse.
All this puts the outcome of the football match that has just ended in a slightly different context. “It would have been brilliant if we had won,” says Alexander, “but it doesn’t matter that we lost. We played well and the important thing is that we will win the war. ” It is difficult to argue about the football championship, given what else is happening.
Many people left the capital when the war entered its fourth month – but Kyiv on Sunday night is lively enough for now. Dozens of fans and other diverse visitors gathered at the Porters Pub in the heart of a warm and sunny capital, mostly watching the events from their tables in cold blood, only reserving shouts and taunts on the rare occasions when Ukraine approached the penalty area.
Andriy Yarmolenko’s own goal from a direct free kick by Gareth Bale after 34 minutes did not help the mood. However, one of the fans watching, Vladislav, also 25, quickly managed to rationalize the situation while discussing the state of the game at halftime. Dressed casually, he says he fought on the front lines in the three-month war, although he is not on duty tonight and he and a friend plan to go to his girlfriends later.
Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk applaud their fans after the final defeat in the playoffs. Photo: Michael Steele / Getty Images
Wales, he says, relies too much on the former Real Madrid superstar, Vladislav said, and that while “yes, he is a world-class player, Ukraine is the better team.” This, Vladislav adds, embodies a military philosophy that “to win a war, you have to work together to win”, although when we talked, it seemed that Ukraine was struggling to break up Wales’ defenses.
“It would mean so much to win, no other country deserves to go to the World Cup anymore. I think everyone here thinks we should be there, “Vladislav added in response to an obvious question.
It’s hard to argue with that, although I playfully note that Wales is already one zero ahead. “It doesn’t mean anything, Real Madrid was five minutes behind” and it’s good to talk about football issues, even if the prediction turns out to be wrong.
The situation became more difficult in the second half, as the TV show froze several times, forcing those involved to watch or listen to the match on their phones. It is not clear why and no one seems open, although one TV operator, OLL, was removed by Russian hackers during the game, who replaced it with Russian separatist news from the breakaway Donetsk region. “Hacker attack,” TV commentator Victor Vacko said on channels where the service was uninterrupted before telling Russians to “burn in hell” – a kind of anger that doesn’t take long to come to the fore when chatting with some Ukrainians for their attitude to the war.
Kyiv has not been on the front line for several weeks, and the city, which had a population of more than 3 million before the war, does not feel clearly dangerous, even allowing the first air strikes for just over five weeks overnight.
People largely ignore air raiders in their daily business, although its bars, many of which reopened after the most dangerous weeks of Russian troops on the outskirts of the city, remain half full at best. The curfew, which starts at 11 am and lasts until 5 am, practically forces the locals to return from 9 pm, so it was a relief that the match started at 7 pm and that there was no danger of penalties.
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