Slovakia - Ukraine Prediction (8:00 p.m. June 21): Decisive battle at the end of the road

Ukraine is an experienced team in the Euros, especially when they reached the quarter-finals last year. The Eastern European representative also has many famous stars playing in Europe such as Lunin, Mudryk and Zincheko.

However, Ukraine's performance against Romania was really disappointing. They did not create any significant chances and mistakes in defense, especially by goalkeeper Lunin, caused Ukraine to suffer a painful 0-3 defeat.

Ukraine (blue) disappointed when losing 0-3 to Romania on the opening day of Group E of Euro 2024 (Photo: UEFA).

Having lost to a weaker opponent Romania, Ukraine is really in a dead end if they want to qualify. Coach Serhiy Rebrov's team must defeat Slovakia tonight to keep their hopes alive before making calculations for the match against Belgium.

Slovakia will be in good spirits when they face Ukraine at the Dusseldorf Arena tonight. They caused a surprise when they defeated Belgium 1-0 in the opening match of Group E of Euro 2024 and the door to the next round is wide open before facing Ukraine and Romania.

Slovakia do not have an influential star like Hamsik before, but they are a cohesive and disciplined team. The ability of key players like Kucka, Duda or Schranz to create breakthroughs makes Slovakia very dangerous in counter-attack situations.

Coach Francesco Calzona's team also has a solid defense, having gone 3 matches without conceding a goal. In addition to the shock against Belgium 3 days ago, Slovakia also kept clean sheets in victories over Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland.

Slovakia (white) made a big splash when defeating Belgium (Photo: UEFA).

Both teams will have some changes to their squads compared to the opening match of Group E. Paris Saint Germain star Milan Skriniar has fully recovered from injury and will play alongside David Hancko and Denis Vavro in Slovakia's defence. 24-year-old striker Robert Bozenik will start from the start.

On the Ukrainian side, Vitaliy Mykolenko continues to be absent due to not recovering from an injury sustained in the friendly match against Moldova. However, coach Rebrov received good news with the return of creative midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi. In addition, Ukraine expects striker Artem Dovbyk to shine in the crucial match against Slovakia.

In terms of strength, Slovakia is slightly better than Ukraine and the psychological advantage will help them calculate easily in the match at Dusseldorf Arena. Ukraine needs 3 points, but this is not an easy task for coach Rebrov and his team against Slovakia, who are experienced in the Euro playground.

Expected lineup

Slovakia: Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Kucka, Lobotka, Duda; Schranz, Haraslin, Bozenik

Ukraine: Lunin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Zincheko; Sudakov, Stepanenko, Malinovskyi; Tsygankov, Mudryk, Dovbyk

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/nhan-dinh-slovakia-ukraine-20h-ngay-216-quyet-dau-o-the-duong-cung-20240620092553672.htm