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Ukraine suffered the biggest defeat in its history this week: France 1: 7. For the first time in the cadence of Andriy Shevchenko, the yellow-blue team lost three matches in a row. And if the defeat is for Spain, Ukraine will repeat its historic anti-record of losing matches in a row: four. Now there are more negative than positive things.
Only the last 15-20 minutes of the match with Germany can be perceived positively, when Ukraine took the initiative, dominated and was even able to escape defeat. But this is not enough for demanding fans who are guided by the high level set by Andriy Shevchenko in previous matches. Ukraine is a participant in the 2020 European Championship with considerable ambitions, so they need to be confirmed in the Nations League. Despite the team running out of blood from the coronavirus attack.
The League of Nations. Division A. Group 4
Ukraine. Kiev. NSC “Olympic”
13.10.2020. Referee on the field – Pavel Gilles (Poland)
Ukraine 21:45 Spain
Online text streaming – UA-Football match center >>>
Audio streaming – YouTube channel UA-Football >>>
Television broadcast – “Ukraine”, “Soccer 1”
Did not play: Andrey Lunen, Yury Pankiv, Taras Stepanenko, Nikolay Matvienko, Sergey Krivtsov, Sergey Bolbat, Andrey Pyatov, Junior Moraes, Vitaly Buyalsky, Yevgeniy Konoplyanka, Alexander Zinchenko, Vladislav Supryaga (all – Ukraine) – Gerard Moreno, Diego Llorente, Thiago, Fabián Ruiz (all – Spain)
You will not find a more inconvenient opponent for Ukraine with fire and sword. Of the six games played against the Spanish team, the Ukrainians managed not to lose just one, at the beginning of the confrontation (in 2003, when there was a 2: 2 draw). The rest of the fights are defeats and only one goal is scored. And in the last four games against Spain, the Ukrainians scored nothing.
The defeat of a month ago in the second round of the Nations League, when Spain severely punished Ukraine for its mistakes, turned very painful. The bitterness was added by the fact that the opponent treated us easily, despite the restructuring processes that were taking place in his position. Spain is going through a generational change, but that does not prevent it from achieving results. The unbeaten streak now has fifteen games. The Spaniards have only conceded one goal in the last six games of this series.
Although it cannot be said that Roch’s Fury performs perfectly in defense. Portugal also had chances to score in the last friendly against the Spanish and Switzerland in the Nations League final. The opponents simply couldn’t take advantage of “Furies Roch’s” mistakes. She, as a rule, mercilessly punishes other people’s mistakes.
It is impossible not to say a few words about the classification of Group 4 of Division A. If Ukraine loses to Spain, it will lose even the theoretical chances of reaching the final four. And if Germany wins in a parallel duel, only the ghostly chances will remain in second place. But this scenario plays in our hands. Switzerland does not need to score points. After all, face-to-face and correspondence confrontation with the “neutrals” is the only way to maintain a residence in the elite of the Nations League for the next season.
Personal
Among those in the application, there are no losses due to health problems. The problem is that the application is short: there are only three Shakhtar players (Valeriy Bondar, Marlos and Viktor Kovalenko). Others skip collection due to COVID-19.
The situational defeat is the disqualification of Ruslan Malinovskiy by two yellow cards in the matches of the League of Nations. Shevchenko didn’t call anyone, so Roman Bezus will almost certainly enter the application for the match with Spain, which had no place on the player list against Germany.
I wonder if Shevchenko will release Bohdan Mikhailichenko on the flank of the defense. In a duel with the Germans, the representative of “Anderlecht” did not get a minute, Eduard Sobol played. The dilemma in the center of the field: who will complete the triangle with Kovalenko and Sidorchuk. Marlos? Shaparenko? Bezus? Will Yarmolenko will play on base, having played very poorly against the Germans. Perhaps it is worth releasing Zubkov early on, who has proven himself in the situation that has developed.
Provisional composition of Ukraine: Georgy Bushchan – Alexander Karavaev, Ilya Zabarny, Vitaly Mikolenko, Bogdan Mikhailichenko – Sergey Sidorchuk, Victor Kovalenko, Marlos – Andrey Yarmolenko, Alexander Zubkov – Roman Yaremchuk
Fabián Ruiz and Thiago did not reach the Spanish collection, all because of the virus. Dani Carvajal was also injured at the club. And already during the cycle Diego Llorente and Gerard Moreno were injured.
An important component of the game of the Spanish team is the defensive flanks. The irreplaceable Jesús Navas will appear on the right, and Sergio Regilón, who did not appear on the field in the game with Switzerland, will play on the left. In many ways, the game of the Spanish team will depend on the young Ansu Fati and Dani Olmo. This is the creativity and ingenuity of the team, its speed. However, both players are unstable due to their age, so Luis Enrique must have a plan “B” in case these players fail, as happened in the game with Switzerland. Mikel Merino is playing alongside Busquets in the center of the field, we will also see Ferran Torres and Rodrigo from the front.
Indicative composition: David de Gea – Jesus Navas, Sergio Ramos, Pau Torres, Sergio Regilon – Mikel Merino, Sergio Busquets – Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo, Ansu Fati – Rodrigo
Prediction – Spain win 3: 1
Spain will not have a total advantage. If Fati and Olmo don’t play, we might even see a kind of swing. But you cannot go against a class without discipline, which the Ukrainians lack in defense. The Spaniards will score a goal or two or three, and in return we can only count on a prestigious goal in the absence of execution problems. Spain haven’t conceded just one of their last six away games, so the “both to score” bet should work.
