On Thursday, March 20, the Ukrainian national team played the first match against the Belgian national team in the Nations League playoffs for the right to compete in Division “A” of this tournament next season. The match was a home game for the “blue-yellow” team, but due to the war, it took place in Murcia at the “Estadio Enrique Roca de Murcia”.
Nations League 2024/25. Playoffs for a place in Division “A”. First match
UKRAINE — BELGIUM — 3:1 (0:1)
Goals: Hutsulyak (66), Vanat (73), Zabarnyi (78) — Lukaku (40)
Warnings: Tielemans (68)
Ukraine: 1.Lunin, 2.Konoplia (4.Sych, 25; 18.Yarmoliuk, 62), 13.Zabarnyi, 22.Matviyenko (C), 16.Mykolenko, 6.Kalyuzhnyi (20.Nazaryna, 88), 10.Shaparenko (11.Vanat, 62), 15.Tsygankov, 17.Zinchenko, 8.Sudakov, 9.Yaremchuk (19.Hutsulyak, 62).
Substitutes: 12.Trubin, 23.Ryznuk, 3.Mykhailichenko, 5.Svatok, 7.Yarmolenko, 14.Buyalskyi, 21.Nazarenko.
Belgium: 1.Courtois, 2.Debast, 5.De Keiper (21.Mokyo, 88), 7.De Bruyne (20.Vanaken, 70), 8.Tielemans, 10.Lukaku (C), 11.Trossard (23.Salemakers, 80), 15.Menyo, 16.De Winter (6.Raskin, 80), 17.De Ketelaere (14.Lukaku, 70), 18.Mechele.
Substitutes: 12.Lammens, 13.Sels, 3.Al-Dakhil, 4.Fas, 9.Batshuayi, 19.Heinen, 22.Doku.
Match statistics >>>
Post-match press conference >>>
The national team of Ukraine had a good start to this match. Already in the 2nd minute of the match, Tsygankov made a precise shot from outside the penalty area — Courtois managed to handle it. Four minutes later, the Ukrainians managed a penetrating attack, which Yaremchuk concluded with a prepared strike from about 11 meters, and this time the Belgian national team's goalkeeper had to work hard to deflect the ball.
These two moments brought the Belgians to their senses, and soon the game shifted to the half of the Ukrainian national team. A few times the ball ended up in the penalty area of the “blue-yellow” team, Lunin came into play, but during this period of the match, there were no real threats to the Ukrainian goal.
Nevertheless, as time went on, the pressure from the Belgian national team grew. As a result, in the 40th minute of the match, the Ukrainian national team finally conceded: De Bruyne delivered a corner from the left flank, at the level of the goal area line, Lukaku won the aerial battle and sent the ball under the crossbar with a header — 0:1, and the first half ended in favor of Belgium.
The second half began with a dangerous long-range shot by De Bruyne, after which the ball flew under the crossbar of the Ukrainian national team's goal, but Lunin played excellently in this situation. Almost immediately after that, the “blue-yellow” team suffered a second injury of the match to a defender: Sych, who replaced Konoplia on the left flank of defense in the first half, also got injured.
But six minutes later, the Ukrainian team finally equalized the score: Hutsulyak “robbed” De Winter in the half of the Belgian team, burst into the penalty area, and sent the ball into the lower corner of Courtois' goal — 1:1. After achieving success, the Ukrainians caught fire and soon took the lead — it was Vanat on the goal line who finished off Tsygankov's wing cross — 2:1.
After that, the Belgians “fell apart”, and the Ukrainian national team continued to attack. And they succeeded again! In the 78th minute, after a corner, the ball flew to the opposite side of the penalty area to a completely free Zinchenko, who made another cross that Zabarnyi finished at the far post — 3:1.
In the remaining time of the match, the Belgian national team desperately tried to create something in attack, but had no chances to reduce the score gap. In the end, the match ended with a victory for the Ukrainian national team with a score of 3:1.
We would like to add that the return match between the national teams of Ukraine and Belgium will take place next Sunday, March 23, in Genk.
Alexander POPOV
