On September 9, the Ukrainian national team begins the decisive – autumn cycle of matches – selection for Euro 2024. The first opponent is the most difficult: the current European vice-champion is the England team. The match will take place in Wroclaw, Poland at 19.00 Kyiv time.
Ukraine
On September 3, the players and coaching staff of the Ukrainian national team began to arrive in Wroclaw. They arrived in small groups. One group – Karavaev, Buschan and Tymchik. Another one is Yarmolenko, Sidorchuk, Buyalsky, Popov and Vanat. The Gornyatsky landing party arrived in Poland immediately after the match with Minai: Matvienko, Konoplya, Stepanenko, Sudakov, Zubkov and Nazarina. Trubin arrived separately.
In the evening of the same day, the “legionnaires” – Yaremchuk, Mykolenko, Zabarny and Mudryk – arrived at the national team’s training camp.
The next day Tsygankov, Dovbik, Lunin, Zinchenko and Mikhailichenko arrived. The last of our collections to reach Wroclaw was Krivtsov (September 5).
Sergey Rebrov conducted his first training session on September 3. Next, Sergei Stanislavovich alternated between theoretical and practical classes.
Since September 6, the “blue-yellows” have been working in two-a-day training sessions. On the same day, Pikhalyonok arrived in Wroclaw, called up to the national team instead of the injured Shaparenko. There are no more personnel gaps in our team.
In the first match against the English – as part of the opening round of selection for Euro 2024, the Ukrainians played on March 26. And they lost 0:2. Kane and Saka scored the goals.
In that match, the actions of the guests were led by Ruslan Rotan. But the next two games – against North Macedonia and Malta – the Ukrainian national team were led by the “permanent” head coach, Sergei Rebrov, under whose leadership the “blue-yellows” won two victories and are in second place in the group with six points.
England
Gareth Southgate’s team are the undisputed leaders of our group. She has 12 points after four fights. And, to be objective, only a miracle can prevent the British from taking the final first place.
There was also room for new faces on the list of 26 players called up by Southgate for the game against Ukraine. In particular, Arsenal player Nketiah received his debut call-up to the Three Lions first team.
By the way, besides Nketiah, three more Gunners players have been called up to the national team (Remsdale, Rice and Saka). Noteworthy is the challenge of Manchester United center back Maguire, who is regularly subject to obstruction by Red Devils fans.
The main defender of the England national team and Manchester City, Stones, is injured, so Southgate called Tomori from Milan instead.
However, the problems with injuries to candidates for the England team did not end there. Already in the national team’s training camp, Southgate had to refuse the services of Grealish and Alexander-Arnold, who were diagnosed with injuries. Both players will miss the match against Ukraine. The coaching staff of the “three lions” decided to call up Trippier to the national team.
Unexpectedly, Sterling was also left out of the England squad.
History of confrontations
The British cannot be called a convenient opponent for our national team. The opponents met nine times, and only once did the “blue-yellows” win (back in 2009). The British won six victories, two more matches ended in a draw (both in the qualification for the 2014 World Cup). The English also have a noticeable advantage in terms of goal difference – 15:3.
Forecast
England are the undisputed favorites in the game against Ukraine. And this thesis is confirmed not only by bookmakers and statistics of confrontations, but also by the current state of affairs. The level of the “three lions” team – both as a team and especially individually – is significantly higher than the corresponding indicators of the “blue-yellow” team.
Despite certain problems with the squad (injuries to three main players), Southgate has the opportunity for an almost equal rotation. There is no doubt that the British in Wroclaw will play for victory, because it opens up a direct path for them to the Euro.
In favor of Southgate’s team is the fact that the match against Ukraine is the only qualifier in the September gaming window, so we can assume that the team will focus on this match. On September 12, the English will “only” play a friendly match against Scotland.
The main problem of the Ukrainian national team on the eve of the most important matches (after England we will play with Italy) is the lack of club playing practice for many of the main players, from Trubin to Yaremchuk.
In general, in fact, our team looks like a clear underdog against the backdrop of stellar England. But, as Alexander Karavaev noted, we also have our own trump cards for England’s favoritism – “heroism and unity.”
I really want to believe that it is our trump cards that will play in the end. Therefore, we bet on a scoring draw – 1:1.
Approximate compositions:
Ukraine: Buschan, Tymchik, Matvienko, Zabarny, Mykolenko, Stepanenko, Zinchenko, Tsygankov, Mudryk, Yarmolenko, Dovbik
England: Pickford, Trippier, Maguire, Walker, Gehi, Rice, Henderson, Chilwell, Saka, Maddison, Kane.
September 9, Saturday
2023-09-08 17:18:14
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