Recent Euro Tournaments:
Have never qualified for a European Championship
 

Ukraine are entering unchartered territory, having never qualified for a Euro tournament before (their best effort was in 2000, where they finished second in their qualification group, only to lose to Slovenia in the playoffs.) They will certainly be drawing inspiration from their efforts in Germany in 2006 – where, competing in their first World Cup they managed to defy the odds and reach the quarter finals.

Oleh Blokhin has opted for a squad filled almost entirely with domestic based players – Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Andriy Voronin are the only players selected that ply their trade abroad. Of the 21 other players, 15 of them play either for Shakhtar Donetsk or Dynamo Kyiv, so familiarity amongst the squad shouldn’t prove to be an issue.

If you had to pick a strength for the Ukrainians, your safest bet would be their attack. Andriy Shevchenko is of course their talisman up front and has an impressive 46 international goals, and will be supported by former Liverpool striker Andriy Voronin, Yevhen Seleznyov (who won the Golden Boot with Shakhtar this season), Artem Milevskiy and Andriy Yarmolenko.

Yarmolenko in particular is one who is shaping up to be one of Ukraine’s most important players at the tournament. The 22 year old Russian born attacker is still a relatively new face in the team, but he is coming off the back of two successful seasons with Dynamo Kyiv, and perhaps most importantly, has been in excellent form recently with the national side, netting 5 times in his last 9 games.

Similarly to Sweden, Ukraine will have almost everything riding on their opening match. A win is certainly a possibility and will give the side hope going up against the two group favourites in the shape of England and France. A loss or draw however, and they can almost certainly kiss a fairytale journey goodbye.  

In regards to recent results, it hasn’t been the best lead up to the tournament for the co-hosts – a promising 4-0 win against Estonia had the camp full of optimism, but this was followed with disappointing defeats against Austria and Turkey. Blokhin has complained recently of the high expectations amongst the supporters, which could certainly prove detrimental to preparations.

Late news of the squad being stricken with food poisoning certainly doesn’t help their cause, in particular with captain Tymoshchuk requiring an intravenous drip. It’s all coming together to make me think that Ukraine will be making an early exit from their own party.

Fun Fact: In their last 12 matches, Ukraine have conceded 23 goals – and 17 of those have come in the second half, with many of them coming in the last 15 minutes too. They’ll have to cut out these late lapses if they want to grind out results.

Prediction: Will finish rock bottom of the group.

Key Player: In any other tournament throughout the last 12 years, the key player would have to be Andriy Shevchenko. However, with the goals drying up at both domestic and international level, much will rely on Anatoliy Tymoshchuck’s influence. The Bayern man made plenty of appearances this season and his leadership will prove vital.