It was a historic night for Ukrainian football as Andriy Shevchenko led his men to the quarterfinals of the Euros for the first time in their history. Substitute Artem Dovbyk came up from the bench and scored a last minute header to edge past Sweden.
Ukraine will now face England in the quarterfinals and head coach has told his players that they should not be scared of the Three Lions. He claimed that anything is possible in the quarter-final clash.
It has been a rather strange European Championship where top teams like the Netherlands, France, Germany, Portugal have all been knocked out in the round of 16. Hence there is no reason for Ukraine to be scared of Gareth Southgate’s England team. while Shevchenko will be aware of the threat that England poses but he would want his team to play their natural game.
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.
the 2004 Ballon D’or winner told reporters after the fantastic win over Sweden.
I saw all their three group matches, not today’s win over Germany because we had to prepare for our own game with Sweden. They are incredibly difficult to score against but their strength shouldn’t scare us.
He added.
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.
the 44-year -old signed off.
It has been a fantastic campaign for Ukraine, as they started with a 3-2 thriller against the Netherlands in the group stage. Although they lost the game, they showed great attacking flair and determination. They clawed their way back in the game twice after being two goals down.
They won their next game against North Macedonia which was an encouraging sign for Shevchenko and his men. But they were dealt with another defeat against Austria in the final group fixture. Despite coming third they progressed to the knockouts by being one of the best third placed teams.
They came up with their best performance against Sweden in the knockouts as Manchester City star Oleksander Zinchenko opened the scoring with a powerful strike. However, in form midfielder Emil Forsberg brought Sweden back in the game.
As the game went on two of Forsberg’s chances struck the woodwork and later defender Marcus Danielson was sent off, leaving the Swedes under tremendous pressure. While they managed to force extra time and even penalties were looming large. Until Artem Dovbyk eventually broke the Swedish hearts by heading home the winner.
On the other hand, England trumped Germany at Wembley. Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane were the players who registered their names on the scoresheet. Southgate fielded a five-man backline to neutralize Germany’s threat from wingbacks. Both the teams cancelled each other out for major parts of the game. It was the introduction of Aston Villa talisman Jack Grealish who changed the game for the Three Lions.
He linked up the play with the midfield to attack and created the opening for Sterling to break the deadlock. However, Muller had an instant chance to restore parity but the Bayern Munich forward squandered the biggest chance of the game. Later Kane doubled the scoreline to put the game beyond the Germans.
Although the Three Lions will be the favourites to go through against Ukraine, we have seen a lot of surprises in this campaign. Southgate’s men are yet to concede a goal in the four matches in this Euros and they are looking like a very well drilled unit.
However one cannot count out The Blue and Yellows as they have been very potent in attack but Zinchenko will be key as he will be vested with the responsibility to break down the gritty English defence. With nothing to lose Shevchenko will hope that Ukraine comes up with another historic performance in the quarterfinals.
