04:29 PM
Oleksandr Zinchenko speaks
I am asking: ‘Why? For what?’ It has been one year of nightmare. Most of my family is still in Ukraine. It is our land, our territory our home. Why should we leave? We are trying to do our job and represent our country but [also] help [the people] as much as we can. All the support and help we have received in the UK from the fans … even me, walking to the shop, a month after the invasion, some 10-year-old kids came up to me and said, ‘We are with you.’
I spoke to [some of my former colleagues at Ufa, where he played as a teenager in Russia] but I hear nothing back. They don’t want to say anything. I don’t know if they are afraid … but I want to forget about that part of my life.
I want to say we are united as Ukrainians. Don’t lose your hope. We will [do this] together.
04:17 PM
C4 interviews Andriy Shevchenko on what today means for Ukraine
04:11 PM
Your teams in black and white
England Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell; Henderson, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Maddison.
Substitutes Ramsdale, Forster, Trippier, Guehi, Dier, Grealish, Phillips, Gallagher, Toney.
Ukraine Trubin; Karavaev, Svatok, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Stepanenko, Zinchenko; Malinvoskyi, Sudakov, Mudryk; Yaremchuk.
Substitutes Lunin, Shevchenko, Sobol, Sarapii, Sydorchuk, Konoplianka, Dovbyk, Miroshnichenko, Buyalskiy, Tsygankov, Bondarenko, Pikhalonok.
03:55 PM
Ukraine line up in a familiar 4-2-3-1
03:53 PM
The art of cobbling
03:52 PM
As Mike McGrath writes …
England have confirmed Telegraph story this morning in James Maddison making his first international start. Or last night if you ingest information via the world wide web rather than newsprint.
03:50 PM
Three changes for England
Henderson in for Phillips, Chilwell for the suspended Shaw and Maddsion makes his first start, replacing Grealish.
03:45 PM
They’re coming home …
Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of England’s Euro 2024 Group C qualifier against Ukraine from Wembley. This is Gareth Southgate’s first match at the national stadium since a 3-3 draw with Germany back in September and their first at home since their exit at the quarter-final stage at the World Cup.
They returned to the qualification treadmill with a 2-1 victory in Naples on Thursday night, bossing the first half and withstanding an Italian second-half renaissance with 10 men even if their game management and attempts at slowing the game down betrayed their lack of nous. There are ways to kill the game that should not be so blatant that they attract bookings – manipulating the ball into areas of the field away from goal and detailing a couple of players to do it is far cannier than individuals delaying restarts. You cannot say elite English players are not as technically gifted as their Continental counterparts any more. But they do lack some guile and craft.
Today they take on Ukraine and there will be an understandable air of heightened emotion in London given the UK’s alliance with and wholehearted support for the Ukrainian people following Russia’s invasion and the barbarism inflicted on their homeland. Ukraine were the odd man out in a five-team group on Thursday but played a friendly against Brentford B, winning 2-0. They have Everton’s Vitaliy Mykolenko, Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk in their ranks but, as ever, since the golden days of Andriy Shevchenko and Sergiy Rebrov, they lack punch up front.
It cost them dearly during their last meeting when England swept them away 4-0 in Rome at the Euro 2020 quarter-final when Harry Kane scored twice, Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson bagged one apiece and Ukraine struggled without someone to hold it up or put chances away.
It struck me covering the Wales match last night that, unlike most of their rivals, Gareth Southgate has managed the age profile of his team perfectly and there were no international retirements after the Euros or World Cup to demand a rebuilding process. But one can’t help thinking that the cycle that began in late 2016 will come to a close in Germany. Given that a 24-team finals tournament makes it difficult for the biggest nations not to qualify, the real test comes in 15 months, not here. Fifteen months for this England to be ready for their last dance and take the final step at last. Rob Bagchi
Source link: https://sports.yahoo.com/england-vs-ukraine-uefa-euro-144647076.html?src=rss
