Taras Myhavko, Getty Images November 14, 2025, 09:44

The defender of the Ukrainian national team, Taras Mykhavko, commented on his team’s defeat in the World Cup 2026 selection match against France (0:4), which was his debut.

“For me, this is the day of a dream, one might say, that came true. Somewhere, perhaps, the result had an impact, but it’s okay. I want to thank the fans who supported us, and all the fans who supported us in general, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, thank you all very much.

Unfortunately, we did not succeed, but we tried. Somewhere, perhaps, we lacked a little not so much luck, but patience, perhaps somewhere. But nothing, this is football, we played against one of the strongest national teams in the world, I think, so we will move on.

Of course, it is nice to play against such players. When you play against such players, somewhere, perhaps, you feel your level, where you still need to grow. I think it’s a pretty good match, but first of all, I don’t want to judge my game, it’s not my job.

But in general, we had a good match, in the first half we defended well, followed the coach’s instructions, but somewhere in the second half we lost a bit and conceded a stupid goal due to a penalty, which I think was so-so. If they also had a 50-50 penalty, and we had a 50-50, because I felt that I also played the ball, but he didn’t even look at us. This is football, I repeat once again, there are games like that. So it’s okay, let’s move on.

The moment from the penalty happened quickly, but I felt the touch of the ball. And I’ll be honest, I felt a touch on my leg as well. I won’t hide it: yes, I caught my leg, but I also caught the ball. I will watch more repeats, maybe I will analyze this moment somewhere. If it’s a penalty, then I’m wrong, but I’ll repeat, this is football, we’ll move on, there’s a very important match ahead. That’s why we are preparing and waiting for this match,” Mihavko said on MEGOGO.

On Football.ua a video review of the match France — Ukraine is available for viewing.