VALENCIA, Spain — Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov said Viktor Gyökeres showed why he’s one of the best in Europe after the Sweden striker starred with a hat trick in Thursday’s World Cup playoff between the two nations at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium.
Gyökeres opened the scoring early on and added two more goals after the break as Sweden won 3-1 to set up a qualifying showdown with Poland on Tuesday for a spot at this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Ukraine responded through a late consolation from youngster Matvii Ponomarenko but miss out on reaching their first World Cup since 2006.
“Gyökeres played great and made the difference tonight,” Rebrov lamented in his postgame news conference.
“He showed his quality, why he plays for Arsenal and why he is one of the best strikers in Europe.”
With Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski both missing, Gyökeres delivered on a night when Sweden most needed him, converting a Benjamin Nygren cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring.
The Arsenal striker, who had not scored in the qualification phase for the World Cup until Thursday, then latched on to a long pass from goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt before showing power and finesse to double his side’s lead.
He completed his treble via penalty he had won himself to leave coach Graham Potter purring about his display.
“Obviously Viktor’s performance was incredible,” Potter said. “Outside of the goals, because to score a hat trick is one thing, I thought overall his hold up play and his defensive responsibility for the team was part of an incredible performance.”
Asked what he had said to Gyökeres before the game, he joked: “I just said go and score a hat trick. But no, the beauty of the win is everyone was on board. The mentality of the team was superb.
“Viktor’s performance is the highlight and rightly gets the headlines. He was incredible. But he will say the team behind him are top, too. We can still improve. This is the start of our journey together.”
It was just Potter’s third game as Sweden coach and it was their first win in qualification after reaching the playoffs due to their performances in the Nations League — they didn’t win any of their six group games in World Cup qualifying.
They now must regroup and go again on Tuesday when they host Poland in a winner-takes-all game in Sweden.
“It was a big step forward tonight,” he added. “I like the look of the team, how they acted together against a good team, adjusted and fought together.
“We also know we have another game. The job is not done yet. We have a massive game Tuesday against a tough Poland team. We have to recover and be ready to go again.”
For Ukraine, the loss in Valencia represented the end of the road for their World Cup hopes. It may also prove the end for Rebrov, who has just two months to run on his contract.
“I can say right now my contract is up in two months and I have no proposal from the [Ukrainian Football Association to renew], so let’s see in two months,” he said.
“I don’t know if every fan is waiting for the answer, but I have always said I have a contract, we have one more match to come in that period. We will see in two months when my contract finishes.”
