On Monday, June 17, the Ukrainian national team played its first match at Euro 2024. The opponent of the Blue-Yellows was Romania, and the game itself took place in Munich at the Allianz Arena.
Euro 2024. Group stage. Group "E". 1st round
ROMANIA - UKRAINE - 3:0 (1:0)
Goals: Stanciu (29), R. Marin (53), Man (57)
Warnings: Konoplya (67) - R. Marin (79).
Ukraine: 23.Lunin, 17.Zinchenko, 22.Matvienko, 13.Zabarny, 2.Konoplya (24.Tymchik, 72), 6.Stepanenko (K) (18.Brazhko, 62), 19.Shaparenko (9.Yaremchuk, 62), 14.Sudakov (8.Malinovsky, 83), 10.Mudryk, 15.Tsygankov (7.Yarmolenko, 62), 11.Dovbik.
Reserves: 1.Buschan, 12.Trubin, 3.Svatok, 4.Taloverov, 5.Sidorchuk, 16.Mikolenko, 20.Zubkov, 21.Bondar, 24.Tymchik, 25.Vanat, 26.Mikhailichenko.
Romania: 1.Nice, 2.Ratiu, 3.Dragusin, 6.M.Marin (4.Rus, 75), 11.Bancu, 15.Burke, 17.Coman (13.Mihale, 62), 18.R.Marin, 19.Dragus (9.Puscas, 75), 20.Man(10.Hadji, 62), 21.Stanciu (K) (24.Rakovitsan, 87).
Reserves: 12.Moldovan, 16.Tirnoveanu, 5.Nedelceanu, 7.Alibek, 8.Cicildău, 14.Olaru, 22.Mogos, 23.Sorescu, 25.Birligia, 26.Shute.
Transcript of the match and statistics >>>
Post-match press conference >>>.
From the starting whistle, the Romanian national team did not hesitate to line up in their own half of the field, so the Ukraine national team accordingly began to play the game in the first place. However, the advantage of "blue-yellow" had only positional character, and it did not lead to sharpness at the gates of Nice. But the Romanians on the 8th minute created the first moment that deserves mentioning: the counterattack of Iordanescu's team ended with an accurate shot from 25 meters by Coman, and Lunin had to come into the game.
Time passed, but the situation on the pitch did not change. To be more precise, it was just changing, but not in favor of Ukraine: Romanians began to control the ball more often, looked now much more confident and, most importantly, gradually pushed the opponent into the middle of the field.
It all ended with a goal for Ukraine. In the 29th minute Romanians pressed Ukrainians near their penalty area, as a result of such actions Matvienko decided to play back to Lunin, and he knocked the ball right to Man, who immediately reacted, played on a free Stanciu and that spectacular blow from 20 meters hit the "nine" gate "blue-yellow" - 1:0.
Moreover, in the 38th minute of the meeting after Man from the penalty area and ricochet from Stepanenko's knee, the ball flew within centimeters of the goal post of the Ukrainian national team. Corner kick. It was performed by the same Stancu, who directly hit the ball into the far corner and hit the crossbar.
Romanians spent the rest of the first half confidently, but the Ukrainians looked confused and in their actions was seen confusion. Anyway, the score was 1:0 in favor of Romania and without accurate shots from Ukraine.
With the start of the second half "blue-yellow" transferred the game to the opponent's half of the field, but the Romanians realized their first opportunity to develop success: the final stage of the counterattack "tricolors" looked blurred, but when the ball bounced to Marin, he without hesitation shot from 20 meters and hit the bottom corner of Lunin's goal - 2:0.
But that's not all. First Lunin saved the Ukraine national team after a shot from the corner of the goalkeeper's box. But a minute later the Ukrainians saved nothing: after a corner kick from the right flank, Man passed the defense of "blue-yellow", as in training, gave into the goalkeeper's box to Dregushin and he shot from two meters at the gate of the Ukrainian national team - 3:0. Disaster.
Well, in the 78th minute of the match the Ukrainian national team struck the first blow in this match in the opponent's goal. That was the end of the match. Not counting the moment in compensated time, in which Yaremchuk put the ball on the crossbar of the Romanian goal, and Mudryk's long-range shot, which was not easily handled by Nitse.
In the parallel match of the 1st round of Group "E" today will play Belgium and Slovakia (kick-off at 19:00 Kyiv time).
The matches of the 2nd round in this group will be as follows: Slovakia - Ukraine (June 21), Belgium - Romania (June 22).
Alexander POPOV
