In the last month, the players of the Ukrainian national team are in a place that meets the definition of a "picturesque town with a pastoral landscape".
In Bardo, a Slovenian town at the foot of the Alps a few miles north of the capital Ljubljana, green trees blend with brown mountains and large white clouds.
In a place like this you can really forget about the troubles at home, but whenever there is silence in one of the training sessions of the team, which is preparing for tonight's match against Scotland in the play-offs for the World Cup, coach Oleksandr Petrovk cuts it off with a shout:
In an interview with the Spanish "EL PAIS" Peterkov said he sometimes regrets these shouts.
Still, these are young players who know personally people who have lost their lives and property since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
But then he remembers that the task before him is much bigger than the sporting goal that awaits at the end.
A ticket to the World Cup - which in order to get him over Ukraine to beat Scotland tonight (21:45) in Glasgow, and then beat Wales on Sunday in Cardiff - is a goal that has become a national mission in recent months that will be a sporting, political and moral victory.
The Ukrainian coach, Photo: Getty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky has placed the World Cup on his list of goals as part of the battle against Russia, and even sent congratulations to the players and coach when they left the country.
As you may recall, these games were scheduled for March and were postponed due to the Russian invasion.
On April 30, while the country was still under attack, a bus picked up team members from the association's building - and began a journey through the bombed-out and ruined cities, which ended after 27 hours in Slovenia's pastoral care.
Slowly joined by players from European teams, the last of which was the new European champion with Real Madrid Andrei Lunin, where they were required to concentrate on preparing for the important game against the Scots.
Lunin before the Champions League final, Photo: AP
Will there be, and ability?
This is not an easy task for the players, for example Oleksandr Krabiev from Dynamo Kyiv, who at the beginning of the war fled with his family to the club's training ground, then was smuggled abroad, and only recently joined the national team camp. In culture and also in sports.
We need to take advantage of the stage to show the whole world what is happening to us. "
This desire is not just the lot of the players.
One was asked to think that the citizens of Ukraine do not have much interest in the team's games, but it turns out that the opposite is true.
Before leaving for the training camp in Slovenia, Coach Petrakov visited military bases and destroyed areas, where he met people who had lost what was most precious to them.
Everyone sent the same message.
"They asked me to get to the World Cup," the national coach repeated, "demanded that we show the world that we are still alive."
Trash Stefanenko from Shakhtar Donetsk, who like his friends receives a lot of messages on social media, said: "We are being asked to do everything we can to reach the World Cup. We are told that this is something that can bring happiness to the country."
Trash Stefanenko, Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian players do not seem to lack motivation, but playing ability certainly does.
Most of the squad consists of players from the local league, and they have not played football for half a year.
The association was unable to organize training matches against national teams, and Coach Petrakov said that in the first months of the war he was unable to watch any game because he was simply fascinated by the news.
At one point he even wondered why he even needed it now.
"I realized I had to be strong and I must not break down now," he said, "I have to show the players that we have to fight."
So in the last month Petrov has been dealing with football, but not only.
"I talk to them about the family, about the children, about the situation of father and mother and always ask how they are," the national team coach added. "There are players here whose father was recruited to fight."
The Ukrainian team can not - nor does it try - to disengage from the situation.
It is impossible, and there is no reason to do so.
Dealing with the harsh realities is part of the preparation for the game against Scotland, and perhaps also against Wales - games that the country calls "the most important in the history of Ukraine".
For them, not only the World Cup is at stake, but also hope, message, a sense of freedom, independence, pride and victory.
"We must not treat this game as another football game," Stefanenko stressed, "We have to play with all our soul and heart."
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