Football prediction Romania vs Ukraine: Equal strength

Romania successfully qualified for EURO 2024 with the top position in Group I. Meanwhile, Ukraine had to play 2 more play-off matches to have a place in the final round.

Comments, form Romania vs Ukraine

Romania showed impressive form in the EURO 2024 qualifiers. They won 6 matches, drew 4 matches and won the top spot in the group with 22 points, ahead of Switzerland (17 points). After EURO 2016, the Romanian team has only now returned to the big stage.

However, coach Edward Iordanescu and his team were not well prepared for the tournament. They have just gone 4 consecutive matches without a win (3 draws, 1 loss). Romania drew 2 consecutive matches with the same score of 0-0 against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein in the friendly matches in June - both of which are weak teams and do not have a place at EURO 2024.

Romania face Ukraine in the first match of Group E.

After 5 previous EURO appearances, Romania has never won their opening match (3 draws, 2 losses). This could be good news for their opponents in tonight's match (June 17).

Ukraine beat Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland in the play-offs to qualify for the EUROs. That doesn't mean Ukraine were any worse off than Romania in the qualifiers, however. In a group that included England and Italy, the Eastern Europeans almost qualified for the finals on equal points with the second-placed team.

In preparation for EURO 2024, Ukraine drew 0-0 with Germany and won 4-0 against Moldova in friendly matches. Ukraine's goal will be to advance to the knockout stages of EURO for the second consecutive time, having reached the quarter-finals of the tournament three years ago.

Compare forces

On the Romanian side, Mr. Edward Iordanescu often uses a 4-2-3-1 formation with 1 striker. George Puscas will most likely be the one trusted to lead the Romanian attack. Mr. Iordanescu's team has won 8 out of 9 matches in which "youngster" George Puscas scored.

Puscas' biggest obstacle on the way to the Ukrainian goal is Andriy Lunin. The Real Madrid goalkeeper has lost just one of his 12 international games (W7 D4). Lunin has also kept a clean sheet in six of those games.

Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made a great contribution to helping Real Madrid reach the 2023/24 Champions League final.

Mykhailo Mudryk and Viktor Tsygankov are the two leading wingers of coach Rebrov. Supporting them is Oleksander Zinchenko. The 50-year-old coach often promotes the Arsenal player to play in the Ukrainian midfield.

The most dangerous player in Ukraine's attack is striker Artem Dovbyk. The Girona player is the top scorer in La Liga 2023/24 with 24 goals.

Expected Romania lineup: Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M. Marin, R. Marin; Man, Stanciu, Mihaila; Puscas.

Expected Ukraine lineup: Lunin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Shaparenko, Stepanenko, Sudakov; Tsygankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk.