Euro 2012: England vs Ukraine preview

June 18, 2012
By: Matthew Clarke

England kept their qualifying chances alive thanks to the entertaining 3-2 victory over Sweden, meaning they now need just one more point to go through.

Ukraine, on the other hand, were completely outclassed by France, but a win over England would see them qualify for the quarter-finals.

England arrived to Euro 2012 in poor spirits thanks to the numerous problems boss Roy Hodgson faced during the country’s preparations for the tournament finals.

As a result, the Three Lions were expected to struggle in opening games, but they instead displayed a lot of character and enough quality to take four points from their first two games.

England entered the final half an hour of the Sweden game trailing their opponents by one goal, but the introduction of Theo Walcott changed everything as the Arsenal winger scored one and set up another to help his team record a crucial victory.

The tricky winger is now doubtful for the Ukraine game through a hamstring injury, but Wayne Rooney returns to the side after completing his two match ban.

The atmosphere in England camp is now much better than just few days ago and no wonder Paddy Power sees them as 2.25 (5/4) favourites to win this game.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Hart – Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole – Milner, Gerrard, Parker, Young – Rooney – Welbeck.

Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine enjoyed a bright start to the tournament finals as they came from a goal behind to beat Sweden in their opening game, but they could do nothing to escape a defeat to France.

Oleg Blokhin’s side showed some potential in their second group match as well and created several decent chances, but les Bleus were simply too good for them.

The good news is that Ukraine are still in contention for a place in the quarter-finals in spite of the 2-0 defeat, although they now need to beat England to go through.

While that may be a tough task it is certainly not impossible, and you should know the hosts are 3.60 (13/5) with BetVictor to claim maximum points.

The biggest concern for coach Oleg Blokhin is the condition of star striker Andriy Shevchenko, who is struggling with a knee problem, but the former Chelsea forward is unlikely to miss such an important game.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Pyatov – Gusev, Mykhalyk, Khacheridi, Selin – Tymoshchuk, Nazarenko – Yarmolenko, Shevchenko, Konoplyanka – Devic.

We Highly Recommend These Places
Share your Opinion!