Ukraine

Co-host for this summer’s tournament Ukraine enter their own party as European Champions debutants after two years of uninspiring results. Yet, whether planned or through a surge of added commitment in a bid to represent their nation at home in front of a packed home support, they have won four of the last five matches. The reason it may have been planned is due to their opponents in these games – Bulgaria, Estonia, Austria and Israel. It could be an embarrassing summer for the home nation though. Ukraine played both Group D opponents Sweden and France in friendlies. They drew 1-1 and lost 1-0 to Sweden but got thumped by France 4-1. With England being their other opponents I think they will find it hard to advance out of the group stages. Even worst for the hosts, Ukraine manager Oleh Blokhin has insurmountable issues in the goalkeeping department. The three men named in Blokhin’s provisional squad have a solitary cap between them. To have to play a keeper with literally no international experience is potentially a disaster for the yellow and blues. There is little that can be done about the situation but to stand a chance you would look for some experience in the centre of defence to guide the novice through the tournament. However, Oleksandr Kucher has the most caps of anyone in the defence with 28 and none played for the country in their only other international outing, the World Cup in 2006. However, Kucher’s Shakhtar Donetsk teammate Yaroslav Rakitskiy is a strong defender who has scored 3 goals for the national side in his 14 appearances. The defender has the ability to shoot from out of the box and with his young age could be a part of the Ukrainian set up for a long time yet. Thankfully Blokhin can call upon some seasoned campaigners further up the park. Anatoliy Tymoshchuk is one of only two players in the provisional squad to play his football outside the Ukrainian league and with 114 caps the midfielder is the Ukraine’s most capped player ever. Just a few caps behind is Ukraine’s top goalscorer, and undoubtedly the best player to come out of the country ever, Andriy Shevchenko. At the tender age of 35 he is not overcoming defensives in the same manner that saw him denominate Europe for AC Milan but we can still except to see some magic escape his skilful feet. Whether he can inspire his country to a victory in the opening game against fellow yellow and blues Sweden, is yet to be seen. One to potentially watch in the middle of the park is young midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka. The nifty Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk winger has scored 5 goals in his 16 appearances and could pose a significant attacking threat. Andriy Yarmolenko is another young player who could grab the headlines this summer for all the right reasons. Shevchenko has apparently recommended the left-footed striker to AC Milan after some impressive performances for Dynamo Kiev. His 7 goals in 18 games for the national side may have helped also. Ukraine have a lot of young, new international start-ups who could be ready to bloom this summer. Tymoshchuk and Shevchenko bring class to Oleh Blokhin’s side and will be looking to guide the young pretenders through the tournament. With the home support and every neutral thoroughly behind the host nation they will attack the European Championship’s with real vigour. Hopefully they will at least allow them to win a game.