Ukraine meet England in the concluding Quarter-Final of Euro 2020 at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, as both teams look to secure the final spot in the Semi-Finals.
Ukraine needed extra-time to defeat Sweden in the Round of 16 to secure their spot at the Quarter-Finals, whereas England dispatched Germany to secure their second consecutive Quarter-Final appearance at a major tournament.
Team News
Artem Besyedin is ruled out for Ukraine after suffering a serious knee injury in Tuesday’s last-gasp Round of 16 win in extra-time over Sweden, following a late foul from Marcus Danielson.
Serhiy Sydorchuk, Andriy Yarmolenko, Mykola Shaparenko and Artem Dovbyk could all be benched due to risk of suspension if any of the quartet pick up another booking.
England could be without Kieran Trippier after the full-back suffered a muscle injury late in Tuesday’s Round of 16 victory over Germany.
Harry Maguire, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice and Phil Foden could all start this match on the bench due to risk of suspension and missing a potential semi-final if they pick up another booking.
Stat Attack
- Ukraine lost their only previous Euros meeting against England 1-0 in June 2012 (L1).
- England have lost just one of their seven previous meetings against Ukraine in all competitions (W4, D2, L1), yet are winless in two ‘away’ clashes against Ukraine (D1, L1).
- Jordan Henderson is the only sole survivor from the England squad that beat Ukraine in June 2012 who still features in the current squad.
- Amongst all eight Quarter-Finalists, no goalkeeper has made more saves than Ukraine’s Georgiy Bushchan, who has made 13 saves in four appearances.
- Coming into this Quarter-Final stage, no player has a better passing accuracy than England’s Reece James who accurately completed 99% of his passes, despite making just one appearance.
Prediction
Ukraine might have the advantage of having their fans present but they haven’t exactly been consistent this tournament performance wise, despite their attacking quality because they come into this match with no clean sheets and had endured a physical yet exhausting encounter in Tuesday’s win over Sweden.
England meanwhile haven’t been at their absolute best attack wise despite keeping four clean sheets, yet they have found a way to three wins in four games even if they had to tactically bide their time and dig deep to clinically defeat Germany on Tuesday evening.
I however do see both teams ringing the changes and with Tyrone Mings, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish all set to start, I can see England taking a routine win given their superior depth, which could well be the difference depending on how Ukraine turn up fitness wise.
Prediction: Ukraine 0-1 England
Leave a Reply