Posts Tagged ‘Ukraine’

Euro 2012 Review: Group D

Posted: July 11, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Euro 2012
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The SFG team draws the post-mortem of Euro 2012 to a close with a review of the fortunes of the teams in Group D, arguably the hardest group to predict at the start of the tournament.

Ukraine

The Good

The comeback against Sweden, with legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko aptly scoring a brace for the co-hosts was one of the stories of the tournament. In tricky wingers Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukraine rarely struggled for creativity from the wings, but the endeavour of these wingers wasn’t rewarded and was ultimately a minor positive.

The Bad

The failure to conjure anything in the games against France and England after such a promising end to the game against Sweden. The final game versus England was particularly disappointing as goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov failed to contain Steven Gerrard’s cross and Wayne Rooney easily headed it in. With over-reliance on Shevchenko to be the marksman, there wasn’t any other striker in the team to assume the mantle when his fitness problems flared up.

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Euro 2012: England vs Ukraine – Four Talking Points

Posted: June 19, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up
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In the final game in Group D, Ukraine and England faced off against each other, with Ukraine needing a win to ensure advancement to the knockout stages while England needed at least a draw to go through, preferably a win (greater than a French win) so they can avoid the European and World Champions Spain. It was an interesting match between the two teams, with the score ending. France lost 2-0 to Sweden, but England pulled off a 1-0 win against Ukraine, thus finishing top of the group.

1. Rooney’s Drought Ends

Bad hair bring good luck?

“Wazza” amassed a total of 86 minutes today after coming back from his ban and returned in typical English fashion: by frustrating the fans. Missing an easy header in the first half indicated that he was willing to score, but may not have a lucky night. However, Rooney latched onto a Pyatov mistake and scored, what Steven Gerrard described as, a simple tap in to end his scoring drought. It may not have been the best of goals, but it may be enough to inject confidence into England’s star striker. Maybe it’s the new hair.

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SFG Euro 2012 Team of Round 2

Posted: June 16, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Team of the Round
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Choosing the Team of Round 2 was just as difficult as selecting for Round 1. Another Mario makes the list, but again, it’s not Balotelli. I don’t know how I would organise this team in real life, but here is the team anyway:

GK – Andriy Pyatov (Ukraine)

Despite conceding two goals, the Ukrainian goalkeeper had a good game against France, making notable saves against Menez (who eventually scored against him) and Mexes. Those saves spared Ukraine of any further embarrassment against the French and Pyatov will need to be on top form when Ukraine face England in the final round of the group stages.

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SFG Euro 2012 Team of Round One

Posted: June 12, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up, Euro 2012 Team of the Round
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[James Eugene]

With the first round of matches over, it is time to select our Team of Round One. Difficult choices had been made, especially with omitting a few players entirely, or merely placing them on the bench. I can also hint that someone by the first name of Mario has been mentioned, but it is not the Italian. Without further ado, here is the team:

GK – Przemyslaw Tyton (Poland)

Imagine the feeling of sitting on the bench expecting not to play, to then being dragged onto the pitch to face a penalty because the goalkeeper who started ahead of you gets sent off. Przemyslaw Tyton was probably thinking “bloody hell” as he was about to come onto the pitch with his first task being to save a penalty. Keeping a cool head, the dived to his left to save the penalty taken by Greek player Karagounis. Cue “Rise of the Tyton” headlines.

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Euro 2012 Round-Up: Day 4 (Sweden vs Ukraine)

Posted: June 12, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up
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Ukraine 2-1 Sweden

Ukraine legend Shevchenko celebrates after scoring against Sweden

The evening game saw co-hosts Ukraine and the collectiveness (plus one non-conformist: Zlatan Ibrahimovic) of Sweden finish the first round of group fixtures. If you watched the match on the BBC – and the TV-punching analysis in particular – one would have thought it was a play-off of which country England will fear less. (The overall conclusion from the workaday pundits was that England had nothing to fear.) In accordance with the tournament so far, despite a slow opening half an hour, the match did not disappoint as the co-hosts came from a goal behind to record a 2-1 win.

Sweden absorb early pressure

The Swedes were reticent from the start, happy to sit back and absorb the host-powered pressure. It was a sensible approach – after all, hosts nations tend to begin matches very frantically with the fresh joie de vivre of the crowd urging them on, as we witnessed in the Poland v Greece game. The problem was that there wasn’t much to absorb as Ukraine took time to fully find their stride.

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