UEFA EURO 2024: Slovakia vs Ukraine Prediction

START TIME: Friday 21^st June, 2024 - Kenya – 4:00pm / UK – 6:00pm

SLOVAKIA VS UKRAINE ON TV: Kenya – SportyTV Nigeria & SuperSport / UK – BBC

SLOVAKIA VS UKRAINE ONLINE: Kenya – SportyTV Nigeria & SuperSport / UK – BBC iPlayer

EXPECTED TEAMS

SLOVAKIA

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Lobotka, Kucka; Schranz, Duda, Haraslin; Bozenik

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE: Vavro (Injured)

UKRAINE

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvyenko, Zinchenko; Shaparenko, Stepanenko; Tsygankov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE: Mykolenko (Injured)

PREDICTION

We have the potential for an absolute thriller in Friday’s opening clash. The Slovakians pulled off arguably the biggest upset in the tournament as they defeated Belgium by a goal to nil, riding their luck for a lot of the game but showing signs of genuine cohesion and patterns of play in counter attacking situations under the management of Francesco Calzona. Ukraine have often shown their best against better teams, such as England and Italy in qualifying, but there is a lack of incision and precision in the final third against some of the weaker sides as shown in their playoff campaign where they needed to come from behind against both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland and then in their opener where they lost 3-0 to Romania. Both teams will sense a massive opportunity with Slovakia potentially winning the group and Ukraine needing three points so both teams scoring looks a good bet.