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June 13 2024, 00:51 · Alex Lawes

Romania vs Ukraine Preview & Prediction | UEFA EURO 2024 | Group Stage

Romania vs Ukraine Preview & Prediction | UEFA EURO 2024 | Group Stage
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Coming into this on the back of an unbeaten UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign, Romania remain major underdogs as they face a team in Ukraine who came through via the playoffs.

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Monday 17th June, 2024 - UK – 2:00pm / US EST – 9:00am / US PST – 7:00am

HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – BBC / US – FOX

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer / US – VIX

ROMANIA PREVIEW: UNBEATEN QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN

Romania qualified for UEFA EURO 2016 as a result of being drawn into a fairly weak qualifying group that they topped above Northern Ireland. They went out in the groups and haven’t troubled the scorers much since but ‘Tricolorii’ are back this time with a lot of the squad that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA U21 European Championships in 2019.

Coached by Edward Iordanescu, they are perhaps one of the weakest sides in the tournament and are ranked 46th in the world by FIFA. They are also likely to be one of the duller sides to watch, too, coming into this one on the back of back-to-back goalless warm-up friendly draws against Bulgaria and then, remarkably, Liechtenstein.

UKRAINE PREVIEW: A GOLDEN GENERATION?

It is perhaps easily forgotten that Ukraine reached the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2020 in 2021 before losing to England in Rome. It would therefore be reasonable to suggest that there is more expectation rather than hope for the war-torn country to emulate that relative success and push themselves even further into UEFA EURO 2024.

That expectation is born out of the fact that former Tottenham Hotspur striker Serhiy Rebrov has a genuinely excellent squad at his disposal. With La Liga’s top scorer Artem Dovbyk leading a front-line that could include Mykhaylo Mudryk and Heorhiy Sudakov and Anatoliy Trubin, Illya Zabarnyi and Oleksandr Zinchenko throughout the spine; Ukraine will fancy their chances of something special.

ROMANIA TEAM NEWS: A LACK OF GOALS

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Horatiu Moldovan has rotated with Florin Nita in the Romanian net but it does appear like the latter will pip the former to starting the tournament. Denis Alibec is out injured so Edward Iordanesu will have to choose between former Reading striker George Puscas and Denis Dragus as the lone front man.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Rus, Bancu; M. Marin, R. Marin; Stanciu, Man Mihaila; Puscas

UNAVAILABLE: Alibec (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE:

UKRAINE TEAM NEWS: FINDING THE BALANCE

Serhiy Rebrov intends to play a progressive style of football and Ukraine do have depth in attacking areas with the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko and Ruslan Malinovskiy both expected to be among the substitutes. Oleksandr Zinchenko has been named captain so should get the nod ahead of Mykola Shaparenko but Vitaly Mykolenko's injury concern could mean the Arsenal man slots in at left-back anyway, allowing for Shaparenko to play. There is a debate over goalkeepers with Andriy Lunin likely to pip Benfica number one Anatoliy Trubin between the posts.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Lunin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvyenko, Zinchenko; Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Tsygankov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE: Mykolenko (Injured)

KEY STATS

  • This is Romania’s sixth EURO appearance. Their last participation was at EURO 2016.
  • A 3-2 victory against England at EURO 2000 is Romania’s only success in their previous 16 EURO matches (D5 L10).
  • Romania have never won their opening match in a EURO final tournament (D3 L2).
  • Romania were unbeaten in qualifying for EURO 2024 (W6 D4) and have not lost any of their last 12 competitive matches (W7 D5).
  • Romania have kept only one clean sheet in their previous 16 EURO matches.
  • Romania have scored more than one goal in only one of their previous 16 EURO matches.
  • There has been a total of 23 goals scored in the last five matches between Romania and Ukraine. An average of 4.6 goals per match.
  • Romania have kept four clean sheets in their last five competitive matches.
  • This is Ukraine’s fourth successive EURO appearance since their debut at EURO 2012.
  • Ukraine reached the knockout rounds for the first time at EURO 2020, eventually losing to England in the quarter-finals.
  • Ukraine have won only two of their previous nine EURO group stage matches (L7).
  • Ukraine have won two and drawn one of their last three matches against Romania.
  • Ukraine have lost only one of their last nine competitive matches (W6 D2).
  • Ukraine have not kept a clean sheet in their previous 11 EURO matches.
  • Ukraine have only scored in two of their last eight EURO group stage matches.

ROMANIA VS UKRAINE PREDICTION

Romania went through qualifying unbeaten in what was a weak group alongside a Switzerland side that have to deal with a bit of in-fighting. Their style of football was clear with just 16 goals scored in those ten games and six of those coming against Andorra in two matches. They now face a Ukrainian side that have an excellent core and a generally very impressive team that will create chances under Serhiy Rebrov. Their weakness will be an openness that can be exploited but against a Romanian side so lacking in goals, that should not really be an issue here.

ROMANIA VS UKRAINE TIP: UKRAINE TO WIN & UNDER 3.5 GOALS