Ukraine-Iceland is a match valid for the Euro 2024 qualification playoffs and is played on Tuesday at 8:45 p.m.: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
If Ukraine can still dream of a place in the next European championships, it owes it mainly to its two strikers, Yaremchuk and Dovbyk, who last Thursday turned over Bosnia’s Pjanic and Dzeko in the last minutes of the game, when Serhiy Rebrov’s selection was resigning itself to a painful elimination.
The deadly one-two from the center-forwards who both play in the Spanish La Liga (Valencia and Girona) allowed the Yellow and Gold to advance to the final of the B League playoffs, where the winner of the other semifinal, Iceland, awaits them. For well-known geopolitical reasons, Ukraine will play at home only “on paper.” The venue for the challenge is the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, as war forces Rebrov’s men to play their home matches around Europe, away from a country that has been grappling with the conflict with Russia for more than two years. Second match in a row on a neutral field for the Icelanders, who had already faced Israel – another country affected by war events – in Budapest, Hungary, in their previous match. The Scandinavians, like Ukraine, also had to come back to play the last act. Down by one goal after half an hour (Zahavi’s penalty), the Israelis were hit by Cyclone Gudmundsson. The Genoa striker scored a hat trick (1-4), proving to be the most fit man in the national team led by Age Hareide.
Ukraine in offensive traction
Third win in a row for Iceland, which had also prevailed in January in friendlies with Guatemala and Honduraas. Ukraine, on the other hand, has lost only to Luciano Spalletti’s Italy at San Siro in the past year.
Rebrov has no injury problems and should field the best. Different talk for Hareide, who is anxious about the condition of Traustason and Sigurdsson, who left early in the challenge with Israel due to physical problems.
The prediction
The last precedents date back to the Russian World Cup qualifiers (2016-17), and after the draw in Ukraine in the first leg match it was Iceland that got the better of it at home. Today the gap, in terms of quality, is quite wide, especially in the advanced department. But Rebrov’s selection, favored for victory, should not make the mistake of underestimating an Iceland that, although less strong than Ukraine, has the weapons to hurt them. The Scandinavians will most likely manage to score at least one goal (in their last ten games they have failed to score only against Portugal).
The probable lineups of Ukraine-Iceland
UCRAINE (4-2-3-1): Lunin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Zinchenko, Brazhko; Zubkov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk.
ICELAND (4-4-2): Valdimarsson; Palsson, Ingason, Gretarsson, Thorarinsson; Thorsteinsson, Johannesson, Haraldsson, Willumsson; Gudmundsson, Oskarsson.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
