On the eve of the start of the Euro-2024 qualifiers, the Ukrainian national team defeated the English "Brentford B" in a sparring match

23.03.2023 21:03

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

On Thursday, March 23, the national team of Ukraine held a sparring match with the English "Brentford B", at the training base of which Ruslan Rotany's team is preparing for the Euro-2024 selection match with the England team.

At the initiative of the home team, the match was not held at their club stadium, but rather nearby, by London standards, at the Wimbledon FC arena.

With the consent of both sides, it was decided to make the match closed to the media and not to organize a broadcast. Only representatives of official delegations of rivals and families of Ukrainian football players living abroad were admitted to the stands.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

For Ruslan Rotan, this sparring was the only opportunity to test the players not in game series during training, but in conditions relatively close to the official match. In addition, the weather was very English - as predicted for Wembley on Sunday - high humidity and light rain that increased from time to time. In the protocol of the match, the coaches included all the players present at the meeting, except for Yarmolenko, who is recovering from an injury, Sydorchuk, who had a little cold, and Zinchenko and Trubin, who were simply given a rest.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

From the starting whistle, the Ukrainian national team seized the initiative and persistently tried to put into practice the instructions that they managed to receive during the few training sessions and theoretical classes under the leadership of the new mentor.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

It is difficult to call a spectacular game performed by both teams before the break. But the initiative was on the side of the Ukrainians. And as a result, a corner ball was scored after the draw. Malinovsky passed from the right wing, and Svatok was the most agile in the penalty area and hit the goal with his head. Ruslan Rotan's wards could also score before the end of the first half. But at first, the ball hit the post after an unsuccessful clearance by the players of "Brentford", and then Yaremchuk and his partners could not deal with the ball, when it seemed that it was already going to fly into the goal from close range.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

In the second half, only Buyalsky remained from the starting line-up. But the picture of the game of the national team of Ukraine has not changed. The initiative also remained with Ruslan Rotan's team.

The Ukrainians had several opportunities to increase the score, but they took advantage of only one. In the 65th minute, Sudakov shot from outside the penalty area, and the opponent's goalkeeper was powerless. 0:2.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

However, after that he saved his team after Konoplyanka, Dovbyk and Tsygankov's strikes. And at the end of the match, Buyalskyi just miraculously missed the goal from XNUMX meters, hitting over the crossbar.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Friendly match

"Brentford B" (England) — Ukraine — 0:2 (0:1)

Goals: Svatok (22), Sudakov (65).

"Brentford B": Winterbottom, Wilson, Adedokun, Krama, Olakigbe (Johane, 79), Trevitt, Gilbert, Dasilva, Lisby (Holland, 51), Jansson, Silas (Young-Coombs, 67).

Substitutions: Rose, Wilcox, Dickov, Beckham, Bennett, Warui, McManus.

Head coach: Neil McFarlane.

Ukraine (1st half): Lunin, Karavaev, Svatok, Matvienko, Mykolenko, Stepanenko, Malinovskyi, Bondarenko, Buyalskyi, Mudryk, Yaremchuk.

Ukraine (2st half): Shevchenko, Miroshnichenko, Popov, Sarapiy, Sobol, Tsygankov, Pikhalyonok, Sudakov, Buyalskyi, Konoplyanka, Dovbyk.

Head coach: Ruslan Rotan.

Referee: Graham Scott (England).

March 23th. London. The Cherry Red Records Stadium.

The Euro-2024 selection match between the national teams of England and Ukraine will take place on March 26 in London at Wembley (starting at 19.00:XNUMX Kyiv time).

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov