Netherlands has a home advantage in the Amsterdam Arena and having been away for Euro 2016 and then the 2018 FIFA World Cup, they are playing in their first final tournament game in seven years, in front of their home fans.
It is the first time these teams have met competitively, with Ukraine hoping to show to form that took them to the finals, finishing unbeaten above holders Portugal in their group but the Oranje will be looking to pick up their second win over Ukraine in three games, to get the ball rolling.
In only two previous no competitive head to heads, the Netherlands have W1 and D1.
The Netherlands missed out on Euro 2016 and will be looking to come back with a bang, and they have won five of their last seven opening games of a major championship (D1, L1). Whereas Ukraine hadn’t been in European tournaments until 2012 and are making their third appearance here with ex-player as manager, Andriy Shevchenko.
Netherlands are 1/61 and Ukraine are 6/0 to win the game.
Netherlands are unbeaten in six of their last seven games and are favourites W5, D1, L1. Where they have avoided defeat from a losing position in two games. Ukraine have won just two of their last nine games D4, L3 topping their Euro qualifying group and are the only Group C nation that did.
The Netherlands have conceded six goals in their last five games scoring 16, W3, D1, L1. Ukraine haven’t conceded 2+ goals in six straight games, although the last six times they did came vs top-20 ranked nations. They’ve conceded three in their last five games.
Memphis Depay, (Netherlands), scored four of their last six goals, all in succession – the first player to achieve such a feat since Robin van Persie in 2013. One to watch for Ukraine is Ruslan Malinovskyi; he’s contributed to an amazing 15 goals in his previous 11 Serie A appearances for Atalanta (six goals, nine assists).
No injury worries for either side.
Netherlands possible starting line-up: Stekelenburg; Dumfries, De Ligt, De Vrij, Blind; F. De Jong, Klaassen, Wijnaldum; Berghuis, L. De Jong, Depay
Ukraine possible starting line-up: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Zinchenko, Sydorchuk, Malinovskyi; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Zubkov
Managers view:
Frank de Boer (Netherlands): “Ukraine have some really good players, so they’re not easy to beat. The Eastern European countries will always have quality players. I’m expecting three very tough group games, and, if we play our game, we should go through to the next round.”
Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine): “The main task for the team is to go through the group stage. We understand that we will have to play against very strong teams and that the Netherlands are one of the favourites. The main thing is that we have a certain style we are playing and we will not change that. We have our own principles which we abide by. So we might have an opportunity to play 4-3-3 or, for example, 3-5-2, but our own principles will not change.”
Last six form guide:
Netherlands: WDWWLW
Ukraine: WWDDDD
The Netherlands seems favourite to win the game and one of the favourites to win the tournament despite being absent for the previous two international tournaments, but Ukraine have Andriy Shevchenko in charge and he has bags of knowledge and experience and will surely put all of that into this campaign with his side to ensure they cause some upsets along the way.
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