Ukraine Beats Scotland in 2022 World Cup Qualifier Playoff; Will Face Wales in Final

Ukraine is one win away from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup after a 3-1 win over Scotland in Wednesday's playoff semifinal.

After winning in a road environment in Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, Ukraine will now travel to face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday with the winner earning a ticket to Qatar.

The UEFA qualifying playoff was initially scheduled to take place in March, but it was postponed because of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. The national team didn't return to the pitch until participating in a friendly in May.

Ukraine came out strong against Scotland and earned a win thanks to goals from Andriy Yarmolenko, Roman Yaremchuk and Artem Dovbyk.

The visiting team came out with a lot of energy and created several quality attempts before finally breaking through in the 33rd minute. Yarmolenko beat the back line and came through with an outstanding finish to give his side the 1-0 advantage:

Early in the second half, Ukraine doubled the lead on a header from Yaremchuk:

Though Scotland has a roster featuring several Premier League players, the squad was thoroughly outplayed for much of the match.

Ukraine controlled 58 percent of possession and had eight shots on goal, compared to just four for Scotland.

There was still drama late as Scotland finally got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute. Callum McGregor took advantage of a mistake from goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan to cut the margin to 2-1.

Scotland still couldn't find the equalizer, and Ukraine finally sealed it in the 95th minute:

The squad will try to keep the momentum for four more days with Wales looming in the final round of the playoff.

Wales defeated Austria in the previous round behind two goals from Gareth Bale.