Well-known journalist and editor-in-chief of Football magazine Artem Frankov told us what he expects from the Euro 2024 qualifying match between Ukraine and England to be held today in Wroclaw.
- How can the current Ukrainian national team beat England?
- There are always chances! I will be extremely banal. This is football. It's not enough for the English to be in the wrong mood, our guys will find the game. The national team is the same, but it's not, because the head coach has changed. It's not worth comparing with the match at Wembley, because it looked like a loser in advance.
I'm very afraid that we won't have the same attitude for the matches with England and Italy. The match with the English cannot be considered separately, because no matter how important the game with the Italians turns out to be, relying on the fact that the English will fuck everyone up. England looks like a clear favourite. The Premier League is full of foreigners, but the team is quite decent.
- Have the Ukrainians become mentally stronger compared to the match at Wembley?
- An army that wins definitely becomes stronger. This fully applies to football. We completed the mandatory programme in June. The situation looks more promising for Ukraine than it did after the match against England.
- What tactics will the opponent choose and what should Ukrainian players do to have a chance of success?
- Southgate will play their football, which brings them success. The same 4-3-3 with Kane at the top, Saha's magnificent insights and Foden or Grealish - I don't know who he'll play on the left. With an absolutely stunning midfield.
In order to compare the level of our team, the main left-back Mykolenko is sitting at Everton under the old man Young, who was written off a long time ago. Sobol is injured, and the option of transferring Zinchenko will weaken our centre of the field. He is too important a player for us in the midfield. Stepanenko and Sydorchuk are over 30 years old.
We need to have, if not two teams, then one and a half.
In the match with Italy, in any scenario, you need a rotation. All this must be taken into account. How will the issue with Yarmolenko be resolved? Will Rebrov move Tsygankov to the left or play Sudakov, who has just returned from appendicitis? By the way, why do we have people falling out for a month after an appendectomy? This operation takes a week to recover at most. After it, they get up the next day.
I'm concerned about the form of Yaremchuk and Dovbyk, who hasn't been making chances in Girona's recent matches, although Artem's transfer has had a positive impact on Stuani, who has started scoring regularly.
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the England national team?
- Our coaches would give a lot if someone could tell us the weaknesses of the England team. To overcome an obviously strong opponent, you need non-standard moves. There is no perfection in the game.
- What is the current form of our opponent's leaders? Who will pose the greatest danger, or can they make a mistake and give Ukraine a chance to score?
- We can only hope that England will not jump out of their pants, realising that they have a ticket to the Euros in their pocket. That's what I believe in more
- Which of the English players will be absent from the match against our team due to injury or disqualification? Is this a significant loss?
- I can only envy the selection of players that the English national team has, which is able to find a replacement for each player.
- Which of the English can surprise us?
- The English will surprise me a lot if they rush forward from the first minutes, as they did in London. Another question is that it can happen by itself if our guys' knees get shaky.
- The main characters in the match in March were Saka and Kane. How do you prevent them from playing their football?
- There is no such thing as a perfect defence and strikers who score all their chances. We have to have chances. It's scary when we don't!
- What is your prediction for the match?
- Everyone will understand if we lose to the English. The pitch is neutral, and the opponent is very strong, although we are just sick of getting one wicket!
No one will throw a stone or a cobblestone at the Ukrainian national team for one simple reason - we are at war. The coaching staff should tune the players in to the fact that they have double, if not triple, responsibility, because the country needs victories.
Imagine if the national team wins one of the two matches now. Even a draw with Italy would be considered a good result before the second game on a neutral field.
Oleksandr Karpenko