(Round of 16) - Sweden 1-2(aet) Ukraine - Tuesday 29th June, 2021

[Redcanuck]

Was that a sports bra that Ukrainian goal scorer had on?

[montybhopa]

Sad ending to an impressive tournament from Sweden

[Tommy]

What a game. Better football than England vs. Germany. 

At least in the first 60 minutes or so. Then it turned into a proper fight. Felt like every player had some sort of injury at some point. I hope Artem Besyedin is not too badly injured bit it looked nasty.

Congrats @Michael! Hope the stadium experience was a good one. Even the sun was shining for you in Scotland!

[Tommy]

Just now, Redcanuck said:

Was that a sports bra that Ukrainian goal scorer had on?

It usually contains some sort of GPS chip that records stuff like sprints, speed etc. 

[Redcanuck]

Just now, Tommy said:

It usually contains some sort of GPS chip that records stuff like sprints, speed etc. 

Ok.  Thought it was another example of this modern word going to hell in a hand basket.

[Eco]

33 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

Ok.  Thought it was another example of this modern word going to hell in a hand basket.

What word..bra? 

[Redcanuck]

19 minutes ago, Eco said:

What word..bra? 

Meant modern world.

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

Meant modern world.

I know - it was a joke, as I have known to butcher words and in particular, player's name in the past. 

[Michael]

2 hours ago, Tommy said:

What a game. Better football than England vs. Germany. 

At least in the first 60 minutes or so. Then it turned into a proper fight. Felt like every player had some sort of injury at some point. I hope Artem Besyedin is not too badly injured bit it looked nasty.

Congrats @Michael! Hope the stadium experience was a good one. Even the sun was shining for you in Scotland!

Thanks, what a day. First England win(sorry Tommy), then Ukraine battle to a victory over a tough Swedish side. The match at Hampden Park was intense as hell. Shevchenko surprised us all with his changed line-up. He to play 3 at the back, bringing in Kryvstsov to partner Matviyenko and Zabarnyi. Both Stepanenko and Sydorchuk started as holding midfielders, with the creative Shaparenko as the playmaker just in front of them. Zinchenko was played as a left wingback and Karavayev was the right wingback, with Yarmolenko supporting Yaremchuk upfront. Malinovskyi was dropped to the bench and so was Mykolenko. Tsygankov was also on the bench as he was recovering from his calf injury, an injury that ruled Zubkov completely out the game.

Both teams forced good saves from the keepers, both teams hit the woodwork. Zinchenko's super piledriver from Yarmolenko's excellent cross opened the scoring. Then Forsberg(who was Sweden's best player on the night) scored with his deflected shot, just before half time.

The latter stages of the match was indeed akin to a war as it got really physical. I have to say, Danielsson's sending off was more than well deserved, he nearly snapped Besiedin's leg in half. It doesn't matter if he got the ball a split second earlier, it was a dangerous high tackle in the direction of Besiedin. Ukraine had several dangerous chances in extra time, but Dovbyk emerged as the hero, as he excellently headed home Zinchenko's beautiful cross. The Ukrainian fans went mental, so did the Ukrainian players. A Ukrainian fan ran onto the pitch as I am sure you saw, I have the footage filmed on my phone. What a match and what a day. A well deserved win for Ukraine over a very tough Swedish side and Ukraine advance to the quarter finals to face England in Rome. What an amazing day and this Round of 16 knockout stage has been sensational. 

[Michael]

Dnipro striker Dovbyk will be a hero to the Ukrainian fans because of his headed winning goal, but Zinchenko gave a man of the match performance for Ukraine against Sweden. Zinchenko scored a lovely opening goal and then provided an excellent assist to help deliver victory for Ukraine. Zinchenko had his best match so far at this tournament against the Swedes.  

[Michael]

 

[Honey Honey]

Glad we are playing Ukraine, sick of playing Sweden every tournament 

[Michael]

Euro 2012: Ukraine 2-1 Sweden

Euro 2020: Ukraine 2-1 Sweden

Fckin have it, we know who has got whose number!! 

[Michael]

4 hours ago, The Premier Steve's said:

Glad we are playing Ukraine, sick of playing Sweden every tournament 

Listen, it will likely be a more entertaining match. Even though Ukraine set out yesterday with their most defensive line-up so far in this tournament, they still had more offensive outlets than Sweden. For Sweden, it's the two wide men, plus the two strikers who are the main source for goals or creativity, whereas with Ukraine, even though they went more conservative with their formation, they still have both wide men, the playmaker, plus the two forwards as real threats. Ukraine generally play more attractive football than the methodical Swedes.

[Stan]

Do you even have any players left @Michael ?

[Michael]

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

Do you even have any players left @Michael ?

That's actually a very good question. I think most of the Ukrainian players are either injured or knackered as hell!  There's nothing they can do about the injuries, but the fitness concerns have been a serious issue for this side. We saw what Ukraine are capable of in their first two games, with moments of brilliance from them. But it caught up with them in the Austria match. They seemed to have ran out of steam in that match(Shevchenko admitted so himself) and it didn't help that they were playing a very strong Austrian side either of course. But they recouped for this game against Sweden and we saw them back to the levels expected of them, as they played a very good match. But the 120 minutes played by them against Sweden, will again have taken a hell of a lot out of them, so Shevchenko has his work cut out getting them ready for the quarter finals in 3 days time.

I think we have to be objective and understand that as much as Ukraine have a very talented side, the majority of their side still plays in the Ukrainian league. Although the Ukrainian league is probably among the top 10 leagues in Europe, possibly the top 8, it is still not on the same level as the top 5 leagues and of course much weaker than say the Premier League. So the intensity and stamina required at this top level is going to be an obvious challenge for the home based players. Sure, all the domestic based Ukrainian players play for the top 2 clubs in Ukraine, namely Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk(Except for yesterday's hero Dovbyk, who plays for Dnipro), but the opposition they face week in and week out in the league is of course not on the level of teams in the EPL or the Bundesliga for example. 

Having said that, many of these players in the Ukrainian league are more than capable of playing in one of the top leagues in Europe. The likes of Zabrnyi(Chelsea), Matviyenko, Mykolenko, Shaparenko, Tsygankov, Yaremchuk and even recently Zubkov, have all been courted by top clubs around Europe and it would do them good to join a top league, to improve their fitness levels. But as it stands, the likes of Zinchenko, Malinovskyi and Yarmolenko are key, in that they are used to playing week in and week out at a high level. Well not so much with Yarmolenko this season, but he was a regular starter and a key player for West Ham during the 2019/20 season, so he has a taste of what the top level physically requires of a player every week.

I feel sorry for the forward Besyedin, as his Euros are over thanks to that brutal challenge from Danielsson. So Ukraine only have two natural out and out forwards now in Yaremchuk and Dovbyk. The national team fly to Rome today, in preparation for the England match and it will be interesting to see how prepared Shevchenko is able to get them for that key quarter final against England.

[Michael]

I've just finished my 8 hour coach journey from Scotland back to England, I'm probably feeling as knackered as the Ukrainian players were feeling at the end of 120 minutes against Sweden.  I'm going to hit the sack, I can barely keep my eyes open. 

[Stan]

12 minutes ago, Michael said:

I've just finished my 8 hour coach journey from Scotland back to England, I'm probably feeling as knackered as the Ukrainian players were feeling at the end of 120 minutes against Sweden.  I'm going to hit the sack, I can barely keep my eyes open. 

Mammoth effort, nice one. 

What was the atmosphere like at the stadium? On TV most of it looked a bit sparse and spread out until they'd zoom in on a small section. Until the game started to fizzle out as both sides seem to settle for extra-time it did sound fairly good even if the stadium looked barely half-full.

[Michael]

9 hours ago, Stan said:

Mammoth effort, nice one. 

What was the atmosphere like at the stadium? On TV most of it looked a bit sparse and spread out until they'd zoom in on a small section. Until the game started to fizzle out as both sides seem to settle for extra-time it did sound fairly good even if the stadium looked barely half-full.

Unfortunately, the maximum capacity allowed at Hampden Park for these Euros was 12,000 people, despite the fact that Hampden Park Stadium has a maximum capacity of 52,000. I bought my ticket as soon as they were officially on sale on the online ticket portal. It just so happened that I was allocated a seat near the front and right next to where there was a concentration of vocal Ukrainian fans, so atmosphere wise, I was probably situated in the best area of the Stadium. The Swedes also had a section where their fans were concentrated. But yeah, the rest of the stadium just had pockets of fans here and there, probably because of the capacity restrictions.

Mind you, even if they didn't limit the capacity, I am not sure how many more Swedish or Ukrainian fans would have turned up. Because the current quarantine requirements in the UK for people travelling in from say Sweden or Ukraine, is 10 days. The period of time in which the Sweden v Ukraine game was officially confirmed and the actual kick-off to the match, was less than 10 days. So in summary, it would have been impossible for fans to fly in from those countries to watch the game live at the stadium. So essentially, the Swedish and Ukrainian fans who turned up to the game, were those who had already been in the UK for a while. However, the Ukrainian and Swedish fans who did turn up, made themselves heard and the atmosphere at the stadium was pretty good, considering the circumstances.