National team of Ukraine: victorious premiere in the UEFA League of Nations

03.09.2020 16:03

Photo by uefa.com

In the premiere season of the UEFA League of Nations, the Ukrainian national team played very well.

In the fall of 2018, Andriy Shevchenko's wards started playing in a new tournament with three consecutive victories. First - away over the Czechs (2: 1), then - in Lviv over the Slovaks (1: 0) and in Kharkov over the Czechs (1: 0). After that, due to the Czech Republic's victory over Slovakia (2: 1), the Ukrainians won their group in Division B ahead of schedule.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

This provided two promising opportunities. First, a place in the highest division of LN - A - for the next season (2020/2021). Secondly, an additional chance to get to the final part of Euro 2020, if you can not get to it by the classic route. But, as we already know, Shevchenko's team did not need an additional chance, as it won the first place in the qualifying tournament of the European Championship - in the company of Serbia and Portugal.

The same Portugal that became the first winner of the UEFA League of Nations. In June 2019, the four winners of Division A groups gathered in Portugal to determine the strongest. In the semifinals, the hosts won in Switzerland - our first opponent in the new cycle, and the Netherlands defeated England. Both matches ended with a score of 3: 1. In the match for third place, Switzerland lost to the English in a penalty shootout, and in the final, the Portuguese beat the Dutch in regular time - 1: 0.

Photo by uefa.com

In addition to the Ukrainian team, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Denmark were promoted to Division A. Germany, Iceland, Poland and Croatia should have dropped out of the elite, but UEFA changed the format of the draw, and these teams remained in League A.

Returning to the national team of Ukraine, it is safe to say that the performance in the UEFA League of Nations helped Andriy Shevchenko to create a new team after the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Cup. Roman Yaremchuk made his debut in the LN matches for the blue and yellows, who took full advantage of the opportunity to become the main center forward. Igor Plastun also played his debut game.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Alexander Karavaev, Ruslan Malinovsky (12 matches each), Mykola Matvienko (10), Serhiy Kryvtsov (6), Viktor Tsygankov (5) had very little experience of playing at the national team level before the start of the National Championship. Andriy Lunin, Eduard Sobol, Vitaliy Mykolenko remained in the reserve ...

Instead, in the fall of 2018, Yaroslav Rakitsky and Yevhen Seleznyov played their last matches for the main team of the country. But there were other veterans - Andriy Pyatov, Taras Stepanenko, Andriy Yarmolenko, Yevhen Konoplyanka, experienced naturalized Brazilians Marlos and Junior Moraes. And a powerful team came out, which in the Euro 2020 selection left behind the current European champion and winner of the League of Nations 2019 - Portugal with star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Footballers of the national team of Ukraine in the matches of the UEFA League of Nations of the 2018/2019 season

Statistics of performances in the UEFA League of Nations for the 2018/2019 season: І - games, Min - minutes, Г - goals (for goalkeepers - missed), GP - goal assists, Liquid crystal - yellow cards Cheka - red cards.