(Düsseldorf) Ukraine went through all the stages against Slovakia on Friday in Düsseldorf, before signing a victory (2-1) which allows it to still dream of the round of 16 of Euro 2024.
Dominated and clumsy for twenty minutes, Ukraine regained its senses to equalize, then clearly took the upper hand in the second half to logically win.
After the inaugural defeat against Romania (3-0) which he described as a “cold shower”, Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov made four changes, notably leaving Real Madrid goalkeeper, Andriy Lunin, for the benefit of Anatolij Trubin.
The Benfica goalkeeper was quickly called upon to make two reflex saves on his line in the 11th minute in front of Lukas Haraslin then Ivan Schranz.
Trubin then diverted a free kick taken by David Hancko at the edge of the area (16th), but he was unable to do anything on the following action, when two of his defenders forgot Schranz in the area.
The Slavia Prague striker, scorer of the winning goal against Belgium, gave his team the advantage with a header (17th).
With this advantage, the team coached by the Italian Francesco Calzona let its guard down and allowed Ukraine, until then timid, to regain confidence.
It was even she who dominated the last quarter of an hour, but Oleksandr Tymchyk’s rebound hit the base of the Slovak right post (33rd) and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s off-center free kick was boxed with difficulty by Dubravka (43rd) .
Returning from the locker room, Ukraine confirmed its domination in the 54th minute, with a combination between Zinchenko and Mykola Shaparenko.
Slovakia, which had achieved one of the exploits of the first week of the Euro by beating Belgium, lost its footing and the thread of its football.
In the 74th minute, Roman Yaremchuk opened up the axis with an oriented control, but he completely missed his pass to Mykhailo Mudryk who, too eccentric, saw his shot hit the right post.
Six minutes later, Yaremchuk did not tremble as he took a long opening from Shaparenko and slipped the ball under Dubravka to the great joy of the Ukrainian stands.
President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the victory with a message posted on X: “Believe in yourself, support yourself, fight,” he wrote.
“Ukraine that fights, Ukraine that takes a blow, but overcomes obstacles, Ukraine that can win, that’s exactly what the national football team did,” he said. he rejoices, in reference to the war his country is waging after the Russian invasion.
Before the Belgium-Romania match scheduled for Saturday evening, three teams have three points, Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia, while Belgium brings up the rear in this group E (0 points).
