Ukraine vs England Match Preview

Ukraine left it late to book their place in the quarter-finals after beating Sweden 2-1 in extra time whereas England knocked out an old rival after impressively beating Germany 2-0 at Wembley.

Neither side will have a home advantage here though as the game is being played in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy.

In their last five previous meetings England W2, L1, D2 scoring four goals and conceding just three along the way.

Ukraine are 8/50 to win the game and England are 1/40 to win the game.

  • Previous defensive record:

Ukraine conceded only once against a Sweden side who went down to ten men in extra time but they came through as 2-1 winners to progress, just before it looked like it was going to penalties to eliminate the Swedes. England impressively won 2-0 against a German side who had chances themselves but could not find the back of the net.

Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko has five direct goal involvements – two goals and three assists – at Euro 2020 so far. Raheem Sterling (England) has scored three of his sides four Euro 2020 goals – his side have now won all 13 internationals in which he’s found the back of the net.

Artem Besedin (Ukraine) is out with a knee injury.

Misses next match if booked: Dovbyk, Shaparenko, Sydorchuk, Yarmolenko (Ukraine)

Misses next match if booked: Foden, Maguire, Phillips, Rice (England)

Ukraine possible line-up: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk

England possible line-up: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Henderson, Phillips; Saka, Mount, Sterling; Kane

Managers view:

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine: “England are a great team, they have a deep bench, an outstanding coaching staff and we are fully aware how tough this game is going to be. They are incredibly difficult to score against but their strength shouldn’t scare us. It should motivate us because everything is possible in football as in life and we will play our hearts out to give our fans even more to cheer about.”

Gareth Southgate, England: “Ukraine are a good side. I’ve been really impressed with what Andriy’s done with them. They had a couple of sticky results through the autumn, through the Nations League but they’ve bounced back, and they got a very good result in France, in the World Cup qualifiers and again this week against Sweden. If we give them space to play, they’ll play, and they’ve got some dangerous forwards. We’ve achieved one challenge but that’s not the Everest we set ourselves. We want to push on.”

Last six form guide:

Ukraine: WLWLWW

England: WWDWWW

Ukraine progress into their first ever European Championship quarter-final. But they come up against a side they have beaten only once in seven head to heads D2, L4 including a 1-0 loss to England at Euro 2012 in what was their only previous meeting at a major tournament.

England booked a third quarter-final spot from their last four Euro appearances after their 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley. This win was their first knockout victory over the Germans since the 1966 World Cup final. The result gave Gareth Southgate’s men a fourth clean sheet in a row at Euro 2020, making England only the second side in Euro history to not concede in any of their opening four games.

However, all of England’s games have been on home soil so far where they have not lost, but now they have to travel to Rome in Italy so it will be interesting to see how they fare and who will come out on top for a place in the semi-finals.