JAKARTA - Not much can be noted from the history of the previous meetings between the two countries, although the last 16 match between Ukraine and Sweden which was held at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday morning at 02.00 WIB was the second for the two teams at a competitive level after Euro 2012.
In the 2012 edition, Ukraine recorded its first points and victory in the Euro finals. At that time coach, Andriy Shevchenko scored two goals. Sharing tips on how to beat Sweden, Schevchenko urged his players to find ways to overcome the supremacy of the aerial duo with the Swedish players.
Those are some of the things that Shevchenko underlined as a debriefing against Sweden. On the other hand, Sweden coach Janne Andersson was confused about which player to start with first.
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π Ukraina
π Hampden Park, Glasgow
π #EURO2020 | Åttondelsfinal
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— Svensk Fotboll (@svenskfotboll) June 29, 2021
Andersson messed around in determining the options on his attacking team. Up front he has Alexander Isak, Marcus Berg, Emil Forsberg, Robin Quaison, Dejan Kulusevski and Viktor Claesson.
But he is also grateful to have been awarded an equally good attacking option. "We have the depth of quality in our squad which means we can play players with different skills. I'm happy to have the squad we have today that can change everything in a game", Andersson said as quoted by Reuters.
Andersson also said he was happy to compete in Glasgow because the climate is the same as in Sweden. "It feels more like Gothenburg, where we come from", he said.
From this recognition, Sweden seems to be more worried about the conditions in their team and the atmosphere on the field later, than the opponents they face in the last 16 of Euro 2020.
The opposite happened in the Ukrainian camp where coach Andriy Shevchenko was even wary of the physical superiority of the Swedish players who were experts in top balls.
Ukrainian players, said Shevchenko, must find a way or be better prepared to cope with the fight for the ball.
If Ukraine relied on goals from a mature attacking process that saw it get four goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk, then its opponents rely on long passes in an attempt to score goals.
The Swedish attacking duo of Robin Quaison and Alexander Isak always get optimal support from my two, Emil Forsberg and Sebastian Larsson. Shevchenko wants to undermine Sweden's attacking formation by pushing his defenders in full control of his defense.
"We have to be wary of set pieces because Sweden really took advantage of the situation. There will be fierce battles on the pitch", said Shevchenko.
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Nine years ago at Euro 2012, Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko scored twice against Sweden as Ukraine recorded their first win in the Euro finals. Now Shevchenko is back in charge of Ukraine against Sweden, as manager after qualifying for the last 16 of Euro 2020 with one of the best four third-place finishers.
Nine years ago Andriy Pyatov and Andriy Yarmolenko were also among those who represented Ukraine, as were Andreas Granqvist, Mikael Lustig, and Sebastian Larsson who started as Sweden's starters. At that time Ukraine did not qualify because it was under England and France. But it was the first time Ukraine and Sweden met in a competitive match.
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— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021
In the previous three friendly matches, both teams have won once and drawn once.
This is Sweden's sixth consecutive Euro finals and seventh in total. This is also the second Euro knockout stage that Sweden has entered after the quarter-finals of Euro 2004. Its best finish is the last four of Euro 1992. But in the World Cup, they were runners-up after losing against Brazil.
This is Ukraine's third Euro finals and the first to enter the knockout stages. Ukraine entered the Euro 2020 finals as the winners of the qualifying group after unbeaten in eight qualifying matches, apart from Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Denmark.
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