Euro 2012: The Contenders – Ukraine




Group D sees two of the most unpredictable teams in world football slotted together. While France have made a mess of their last two international campaigns, England have failed to win anything since their World Cup win in 1966. Throw Sweden and Ukraine into the mix and we have an absolutely intriguing Group D to watch out for.

Euro 2012: The Contenders - Ukraine

Euro 2012: The Contenders – Ukraine

On paper, England and France are favorites to go through. But with an inspired Zlatan Ibrahimovic in form, Sweden are no pushovers. Likewise Andriy Shevchenko would be looking at this as his last opportunity to make his mark on the international stage and Ukraine would be motivated in doing well in front of their home crowd.

Ukraine:

The former Soviet Republic, Ukraine come into the tournament as co-hosts and not having to go through the qualifying process. As the second lowest ranked team in the world, Ukraine are the underdogs in Pool D comprising of the mighty French and English alongside an ever improving Sweden.

Ukraine’s preparations for the Euros have been far from impressive after losses to Austria and Turkey in friendlies but wins over Belgium, Austria and Estonia and an impressive 3-3 draw with Germany over the past six months would ease the nerves for Oleg Blokhin’s side as they participate in the European Championships for the first ever time.

Key Player: The Ukranian squad lacks superstars and household names but one name that the defenders across the world will look upon with fear is that of Andriy Shevchenko. At 35, the former AC Milan legend and Chelsea striker is definitely past his prime but his experience at the highest level will come in handy as he looks to inspire Ukraine to slug it way past the group stages in front of his home crowd

Other Stars: Andriy Voronin, Andriy Yarmolenko

Prediction: Group Stages

Though a partisan and passionate crowd will be cheering them on, Ukraine stands only an outside chance of progressing in a highly competitive group. The home support might just be what they need as they are more than capable of playing party poopers by holding off either England or France.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Monish Menon

Author:

Hi, I am Monish Menon from Hyderabad and currently working at Franklin Templeton Investments as a Compliance Business Analyst. Sport has always been my passion since I was a kid and I invest all my non-existent free time by watching, playing, writing and analyzing various sporting events across the world. Apart from being a diehard Manchester United fan and a Ferrari supporter, I believe that Roger Federer is still the best tennis player and Sachin Tendulkar is God. I play club cricket and I also am a part of my organization’s cricket and football squad. Being such a sports fanatic, writing about it is something that came naturally to me and I am glad that I got an opportunity through thesportsmirror.com to share my thoughts with the rest of the world. For other articles written by me, you can visit my blog at www.monishmenon.wordpress.com

Cricket

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 4th, 2024

Jaipur, 04 February 2024: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti was in the pink city on Saturday where the Ambassador dropped by Rajasthan Royals’ home stadium ..

Football

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

Posted by: Pooja Kamboj on May 16th, 2024

Continuing to work alongside stakeholders from the sports fraternity, LALIGA, the world’s largest football ecosystem, brought the curtains down on this se ..

Tennis

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on December 19th, 2023

Former doubles world No. 1 Leander Paes was recently elected to receive the Ultimate Honor in Tennis – induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame &# ..

F1

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on September 26th, 2016

Held on Sept 1st, The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau (TOSB) Twinterview consisted of sports panelists such as Mark Gallagher (Public Speaker on F1 race), Shayam ..

Boxing

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2018

It looks like it will be a scintillating couple of months for fans of elite boxing. There is the prospect of the rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Ca ..

Other Sports

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2024

As the 2023-24 NBA season approaches the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as a formidable force in the Western Conference, showcasing their ..

One stop guide to all the latest sports news, reviews, opinions, fixtures and live scores from India and around the world.

Copyright © 2024 | The Sports Mirror