Euro 2020 Preview: Ukraine

After qualifying for the finals by winning their group for the first time in their history, 2012 part-hosts Ukraine will be desperate to grasp their opportunity to progress past the group stages for the first time ever — they’re priced at 7/2 to do so.

Under the astute management of the legendary former talisman Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s transition from a typically hard to beat, counter-attacking side into a more progressive, ball-playing nation has seen them tip Portugal to top of qualification group B, urging them so see just how far they can raise their ceiling.

After cultivating a good mix of youthful exuberance (Roman Yaremchuk, Mykola Shaparenko, Vitaliy Mykolenko) and European experience (Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Andriy Yarmalenko) the 2004 Ballon D’or winner has qualifying for the knockouts as his minimum target.

In Part 12 — the final part — of our Euro 2020 preview series, we’ll take a deeper look into this exciting Ukraine side, reviewing their form, formation and playing style before focusing in on a couple of key members, before, as always, pulling a few key Ukraine-based odds at the end.

Form Guide

Euro 2020 qualifying: DWWWWWWD

For the first time in their history, Ukraine have qualified for a European Championships directly via the group stages — having hosted in 2012 and won via play-off for Euro 2016 — and did so unbeaten, winning Group B ahead of Portugal by winning six and drawing twice.

They had the joint third-best defence in the entirety of European qualification, conceding only four goals in their eight games, whilst managing to score only 17. Highlights included a rampaging 5–0 win against Serbia and a 2–1 win at home to Portugal.

More general and recent form has been a far-cry from that of qualifying however as the Yellow and Blues — previous to their two warm up wins against Northern Ireland and Cyprus — had won just once in their previous nine games. That being said, however, the win was against Spain and they also took a point from the world champions France in World Cup qualification.

Formation & Playing Style

Taking plenty on from his myriad of former managers, Shevchenko has used no less than six different formations during his spell in charge. He does, however, seem to favour a classic 4–3–3 formation, and it is what brought them qualification so you would expect him to stick with it.

 

What Shevchenko has excelled at is finding balance between youth and experience, as well as finding good combinations. None more so than at the heart of the defence where the Shaktar Donetsk trio of Andriy Pyatov (in goal), Serhiy Kryvstov and Mykola Matviyenko will be flanked by Dynamo Kyiv duo Oleksandr Karavayev and Mykolenko.

Central midfield — as with most mid-range sides — is where Ukraine are at their strongest. 31 year old rock Taras Stepanenko will anchor a classy midfield pairing of Zinchenko and Malinovskyi, who will look to dictate place and work the ball into the front three.

25 year old Yarmenchuk is equally good at making runs in behind and playing with the ball to feet. He can provide the perfect base for the likes of Yarmalenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka to make their signature out-to-in runs, narrowing defences and leaving wide gaps for full-backs to exploit.

Shevchenko has developed this Ukraine side into much more than your typical tight-knit, hard to play European side. Malinovskyi and Zinchenko ooze class and those around them are confident they can bring a good brand of football to the finals. The only major worry for Ukraine — ironically, much like most typically tight-knit, hard to play European sides — is a potential lack of goals.

Key Players

Ruslan Malinovskyi: Without a doubt the best player in the Ukraine side, and one of the best to ever wear the yellow and blue shirt, 28 year old Ruslan Malinovskyi is the beating heart in the middle of the park. His calmness in possession and world-class distribution has been pivotal in the transformation of this Ukraine side into a genuinely good footballing nation.

A key cog in perfectly oiled Gian Piero Gasperini machine that is Atalanta, the former Genk midfielder made 36 appearances as La Dea stormed into a Champions League spot, knocking up 8 goals and 12 assists in the process. Moreover, Malinovskyi was in the 99th percentile last season across all midfielders in Europe’s major leagues for assists per 90 (0.52) expected assists per 90 (0.42), key passes per 90 (3.32), progressive passes per 90 (7.43) and shot creating actions per 90 (6.12). In every one of those metrics he outscored Bruno Fernandes.

With a perfect blend of industry around him, there is every chance Malinovskyi can show himself to be one of the best ball-playing midfielders in this finals, and with all due respect to Atalanta, he has an incredible opportunity to put himself in the shop window for some of Europe’s elite.

Oleksandr Zinchenko: Of that perfect midfield balance that will allow Malinovskyi to express himself, 24 year old Manchester City left-back-come-central-midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko is the pick of the bunch.

To label him simply as ‘industrious’, ‘versatile’ or a ‘work-horse’ would be a huge disservice the player, but that is not to say none of these are true, just that there is so much more to Zinchenko than that. The former FC Ufa player, who City paid around £1.7 million for in 2016, is an incredibly intelligent footballer, equally as capable in left-back as he is in defensive midfield or number 10.

He makes up for his sleight build with intelligent positioning and quick thinking. In possession he possesses all the slick, press-resistant qualities necessary for a Pep Guardiola full-back, whilst out of possession he is supremely fit and can press relentlessly (also necessary for a Pep player).

To his compatriots, he is a leader, a winner. Zinchenko has played on some of the biggest stages in world football and against the best players in the world to boot. He has played under pressure that, within the current camp, possibly only his manager has also played under. At just 24 he is already a guiding light for those of similar or younger age than himself.

Key Odds

In a tournament in which they finally have a decent chance of making the knockouts, the bookies understandably have Ukraine as 50/1 to win Euro 2020 (the same odds as widely regarded dark horses Turkey, albeit). We have already mentioned that they are as short as 7/2 to qualify for the knockouts, whilst you’d get them at 16/1 to reach the final.

Only Roman Yaremchuk (80/1)comes in at less than 100/1 to win the Golden Boot.

Ukraine are 5/1 to beat the Netherlands in their opening fixture.