The Ukrainian U-23 football team lost to the Iraqi team in the first match at the 2024 Olympic Games.
The Iraq — Ukraine match took place at the stadium in Lyon and ended with the defeat of Ruslan Rotan's team with a score of 1:2.
For Ukraine, this was a historic match at the Olympics, because for the first time in history, our team played at the Games in a sport such as football.
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Ukraine lost to Iraq
The first half of the match was goalless. The blue and yellows had more possession of the ball, made five shots at the Iraqi goal, including two on target. While the Iraqi team did not record a single shot at the Ukrainian goal.
The Ukrainians opened the scoring in the match. The author of the first goal of Ukraine in history was Valentin Rubchinskiy, who played on the rebound.
However, four minutes later Iraq equalized after an extremely dubious penalty. In the moment with the foul of Maksim Taloverov, a yellow card should have been given to the Iraqi player for simulation, but the referee from Sudan decided otherwise.
The penalty in the game was converted by Ayman Hussein. In the 75th minute, the Iraqis managed to take the lead after a strike by Ali Jassim.
By the second half, the referee added 12 minutes, however, the Ukrainians were unable to score another goal.
Thus, the Ukrainian team lost in their first match at the Olympics. In relation to their opponents in Group B, the Argentina team also started with a defeat, losing to Morocco in a dramatic match with three minutes to play two hours later.
The next game of the Ukrainian team at the Olympics will be held on July 27 against the Moroccans.
