Roman Yaremchuk scored the game-winning goal late on as Ukraine defeated Slovakia 2-1 in Group E, securing their place in the Euro 2024 tournament.
Despite losing their opening match to Romania, Serhiy Rebrov’s team knew they needed to realistically pick up at least one point in Dusseldorf to have a chance of making it to the knockout stage, but they had the worst start possible.
After surprising Belgium in their first game, Slovakia would have needed to win again to go to the round of 16, and they appeared to be on track when they took the lead early on thanks to a header from Ivan Schranz, his second goal of the competition (17).
Slovakia dominated the first 45 minutes despite Oleksandr Tymchyk’s shot against the post as Ukraine looked for an equaliser, but Anatoliy Trubin, the backup goalie for Andriy Lunin, was outstanding for Ukraine.
Nonetheless, Ukraine dominated the second part. Mykhailo Mudryk, a great player for Chelsea, had moments of brilliance throughout. It was his driving run that set up Mykola Shaparenko’s goal of sweeping home Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross from the left to equalise the score at 54.
The Ukrainians were clearly in the lead from that point on. Substitute Yaremchuk made headlines when he used excellent technique to control Shaparenko’s long ball forward and push it past Slovakia custodian Martin Dubravka (80). Mudryk then struck a post from a tight angle.
The outcome leaves Group E wide open ahead of Belgium’s Saturday night showdown against Romania. Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine are all on three points, but Belgium has not yet scored.
Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov said: “We made some mistakes when we conceded the goal and we had to react in the second half.
“I told the players not to worry about the score and to give maximum effort on the pitch. I’m pleased for them, they did that. They gave their all on the pitch and showed the spirit of Ukraine.
“Of course, we have to concentrate on the next match, but this was a very important win for our country, for Ukraine, for our fans, who I am sure are very proud of the players.”
Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona said: “We had the opportunity but we knew that we were coming up against a team that had to win at all costs to stay in the hunt to make it through to the knockout stage.
“For us, we are the Cinderella story of the group stage. My team try to play football against anyone regardless of the opposition and I’m very proud of that.
“A few months ago it would have been inconceivable that our team could play against these strong sides.”
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