AH, good old FIFA, eh? Even when doing the right thing, they still make a wrong move somewhere along the line.

So it was that their belated ban on the Russian national team taking part in the World Cup play-offs eventually came to pass, with their opponents Poland awarded a bye into the final of their qualification pathway.

The right decision, but only after FIFA had originally announced plans to allow a Russian side to play under the name of the "Football Union of Russia", before caving to pressure from Football Associations around Europe – including our own – when they said they would refuse to play against a Russian team at any age level for the foreseeable future.

It should go without saying that football considerations are secondary by a long way to the horrors being suffered by the Ukrainian people right now. No question.

But given that Scotland have been drawn against Ukraine in our own World Cup play-off semi-final, there are indeed questions to be answered now that the match - due to take place at Hampden on March 24th - has rightly been postponed.

The first and most obvious one, of course, is what now?

Because as heart wrenching as the current situation in Ukraine is, there are certainly no guarantees it will be resolved any time soon. It must be very doubtful that the next available international break, scheduled for June, is far enough into the future to allow Ukraine to prepare properly to potentially play the tie then.

Scotland were actually due to play Ukraine during that window in any case in the Nations League, with a double-header against Armenia and a trip to Dublin to play the Republic of Ireland also pencilled in.

These are UEFA fixtures, but UEFA president Aleksandr Ceferin has reportedly already indicated to Shakhtar Donetsk coach Darijo Srna that this would be the preferred window to reschedule the World Cup play-off.

If the Nations League games are bumped on, that will potentially create a fixture headache for Scotland down the line. The main problem with the idea though is that many of the Ukrainian players are actually based in Ukraine. Fifteen of the 23 players selected by head coach Oleksandr Petrakov for the qualifiers last November, in fact, currently play in the suspended Ukrainian domestic league.

It all seems incredibly trivial in the current context, but if – heaven forbid – the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing even into May, how on earth can Ukraine be expected to field an elite, well-prepared international side at Hampden just weeks later?

Calls for Scotland to forfeit the tie altogether then are perhaps understandable, no doubt well-meaning and certainly altruistic. But the idea is ultimately flawed. It is a noble concept, but one which fails to answer the question of how far that altruism extends?

If Scotland were to step aside, how then would potential final opponents Wales and Austria possibly be able to resist calls to do the same? Or their eventual opponents at the World Cup?

Incidentally, it’s difficult to see why the other semi-final play-off match wasn’t also postponed, with the tie between Wales and Austria still going ahead later this month as planned.

Surely that game should also have been moved to avoid either of those sides having an advantage over Scotland or Ukraine in the final? Another triviality in the grand scheme of things, but surely damaging to the integrity of the competition nonetheless?

It is not the fault of the Ukrainian people they have been put in such a horrific situation, and it is not the fault of the Ukrainian players that their opportunity to reach a World Cup – perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity – could potentially be taken from them. But would those proud Ukrainians want to go to Qatar without earning the right on the field? I doubt it.

And though the wants of the Scottish players and supporters are way down the list of priorities, it is also not their fault that they have been put in this situation. The work the Scottish players have put in and the sacrifices they have made to reach this point, where their own boyhood dreams are so close to being realised, should also not be discounted so readily.

Poland – and indeed Sweden and the Czech Republic for that matter, who could have met Russia in a play-off final – should be commended for forcing FIFA’s hand by refusing to play against Russia, but their situation cannot remotely be compared to the one Scotland find themselves in.

By taking that stance against the invading aggressor, they have after all – correctly – been told they will not have to sacrifice their World Cup hopes.

Football is not a matter of life or death, contrary to the popular phrase, so it is hard to become particularly exercised about the postponement of the play-off game right now, as disappointing as that has been for everyone on all sides.

But there appears no easy solution to the problems that are coming down the line in terms of actually getting this game played before the World Cup kicks off in November. That being said, forfeiting the tie will not - and should not - be the solution.