Ukraine and England meet in Rome at Stadio Olimpico in the final pair of the EURO 2020 quarterfinals. While seeing England here isn’t that of a big surprise, there aren’t many who gave Ukraine a chance to enter the top eight football teams in Europe. However, Andriy Shevchenko’s side showed that they fully deserved to be here, following very good performances since the start of the campaign. England didn’t shine, but their ultra-defensive style of play paid off, and Gareth Southgate now has to keep his boys alarmed and sharp enough to continue with the same approach.
Preview
Ukraine (TBA) eliminated Sweden in the Round of 16 after one hell of a battle that saw extra times and a last-minute goal just before the penalties. Artem Dovbyk was the scorer, becoming a hero of the entire country.
As said before, this unit likes to attack, which is why their games often witness goals on both ends of the pitch. In the previous 10, seven ended with this outcome, with Ukraine posting four wins, four draws, and two defeats during the entire stretch.
Andriy Yarmolenko, Roman Yaremchuk, and Man City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko are the most prominent names of this unit. Still, all of them are properly upgraded with numerous youngsters, many of them being the former U20 World Cup champions.
England (TBA) defeated Germany in the Round of 16, breaking a curse that lasted for a long, long time. The eruption of joy in the stands was unbelievable and one of the most beautiful pictures in recent years, practically since the COVID-19 madness started.
This was yet another victory without an allowed goal for the English side, their eight in the past 10 matches. When we add that the Three Lions also recorded a 0-0 draw against Scotland, we conclude that Gareth Southgate‘s side allowed just one goal in 900 minutes of play, which is extremely impressive.
There isn’t any beauty in their performances, but strict and rigid tactics instead. England doesn’t have the quality to dictate the tempo and the style of play, which is why they decide to wait for the opponent’s mistake or hit on a counter-attack. It is no wonder why Raheem Sterling scored three goals in the tournament so far.
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Artem Besedin received an awful hit against Sweden, and he probably won’t play against England. Other players should be ready.
Harry Kane had some problems against Germany, but he will be ready.
Head to Head Matches
Ukraine and England last played in World Cup qualifiers back in 2012 and 2013. The first leg in London saw a draw, 1-1. There were no winners in Ukraine as well, with the game ending without goals.
Prediction
England is the absolute favorite here, and even though we fancy Ukraine and its playstyle, we can’t back them up to win here. Furthermore, England’s win is the only logical choice for this event. Their hard defense and killer counter-attacks will present a lot of trouble for the Ukrainians, and that is why we propose betting on the Three Lions’ win.
Here are the previews for the rest of the EURO 2020 quarterfinal matches
If you like Copa America 2021 quarterfinals, here are the preview for those events as well.
For those who want to see early picks for the football tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, my colleague, but most of all friend, Kurt Boyer, has that covered up at this LINK. You can click on his name and see more detailed previews for various sports.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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