National team, Ismajli: We deserved more against Poland, keep your head up and hope for victory against Ukraine

The Albanian national team is making final preparations for the March 31 friendly match against Ukraine as the Rossoneri continue to train at the sports center in Valencia.

Speaking to FSHF TV, defender Ardian Ismajli says that the team deserved more against Poland and that Albania lacked a bit of luck in the important World Cup pay-off challenge.

"I believe we deserved much more, we had many chances to score and naturally we are very disappointed, because looking at how the match went, we really deserved to qualify for the final of the World Cup play-off phase, but sometimes football is like that, it turns its back and luck was not with us, but we hope for more luck in the future. This match serves us to grow much more as footballers and as a group for the future", - says Ismajli, adding that the match on March 31 against Ukraine is important and a positive result is aimed for.

"Every match for the national team is important, this is a friendly, it's not easy after that match against Poland, but we are a professional team and we have overcome these challenges and we will believe that with Ukraine we will get the most positive result possible."

Meanwhile, the red and black defender looks ahead and talks about the national team's future challenges, starting with the new edition of the UEFA Nations League.

"I believe that the Nations League starting in September is an important step for us in terms of definitely winning the group, as we are a better team than the other teams and as we know, if we win the Nations League group, the journey to the Nations League is a little easier. We will start there and then the Nations League will also see the group for the European Championship 2028, so we will give it time and see what opponents we are dealing with", - emphasizes Ismajli, while at the end there is also a message of thanks to all Albanian fans.

"We thank the fans from the bottom of our hearts, they are always our number twelfth, because you saw for yourself in Poland that extraordinary environment where there were 4-5 thousand Albanian fans in the stadium and many others watching us on television. I hope that in the future we will return the favor as we have returned the favor with Euro 2024 and now with other successes," said Ismajli.

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