Former Scotland captain and National Icon Graeme Souness has chosen Ukraine over Scotland in a World Cup playoff on Wednesday.
Scotland will play Ukraine in a one-off World Cup play-off at Hampden Park on Wednesday. The winner of the match will face Wales on Sunday in the final playoff match to see who will join the other 32 nations in Qatar coming this November.
According to the Scottish legend he will root for Ukraine to beat Scotland to send a message to Russia. Souness made 54 appearances for the Scottish National scoring four in the process.
What did Souness say?
Speaking with The Times, Emotional Graeme Souness said:” When I have thought about this game in my quieter moments, I’ve thought, ‘How would I deal with this?
“Part of me keeps coming back to the fact that it’s just a game of football, and do I want to beat them? Whether it’s sport, politics, the arts, whatever it is, we must send a message to Russia that it’s not acceptable what they are doing.
“I’m going to find myself in a really difficult situation. I’ll be emotional. I don’t just want Ukraine to qualify, I want them to go there (Qatar) and win it.
“How far do you have to bury your head in the sand not to realize the situation the world’s in right now? Will it be when someone presses the button on a nuclear weapon?
“I’d not want to be one of the Scottish players playing that night. I don’t know where my emotions would be. My emotions when I think about it deeply are that it’s more important than football to send a message that Russia’s behavior is unacceptable.
‘The world has to unite and tell them that — you can hear the emotion in my voice. That’s my overriding feeling about the situation.
“I’m doing it (working as a pundit) for television and I’m not sure how I’ll cope with that. I know the majority of our supporters who go there will feel the same — there you are. It’s going to be a really strange night.”
Steve Clarke, The head coach of the Scottish National Team when quizzed about Graeme Souness admitted that he wants Ukraine to beat Scotland and qualify for the World Cup and also wants them to win the World Cup.
Steve Ckarke said:”I can’t put myself into anyone else’s mind, everyone has their opinion on the situation. Every opinion will be different.
“I focus on myself, I want to go to Qatar with Scotland and the players want to go as well so that is what I will focus on.”
Meanwhile, Douglas Chapman, a Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife has hit back at Graeme Souness for supporting Ukraine over Scotland.
The member of parliament in a tweet slams the former Scotland Skipper for choosing emotions over loyalty.
He tweeted: “Always liked Souness as a player for #Scotland, but I hope he’s not on my #TartanArmy bus on Wednesday.
“There can only be one winner and this is no time for sentiment.”
