On the one hand the Scandinavian solidity and on the other the exuberance of the former Soviets.
Sweden and Ukraine will compete tomorrow at 9pm at Hampden Park in Glasgow to conquer the quarter-finals of the 2020 European championships and enter the shortlist of the best eight continental teams.
Difficult to make predictions, both have what it takes to defeat their opponents and continue the European dream. Sweden surprisingly won their group, relegating Spain to second place. With the Red Furies it ended 0-0: a draw that gave an injection of confidence and self-esteem. The formation of Janne Andersson showed great compactness in defense and ability in the counterattack, focusing on the skills of Kulusevsky, Forsberg and Isak. A tough, tedious team, but with elements capable of making the decisive play. The 3-2 against Poland in St. Petersburg, with a goal from Viktor Claesson in the last minute of injury time, brought great enthusiasm to the 'Yellow Submarine'. In between the 1-0 success against Slovakia. "I don't want to be anywhere else in the world right now.We are aware that Ukraine are an excellent team and that counterattack is one of their strengths. She will be ready and motivated against us, '' Andersson points out. For midfielder Sebastian Larsson, "there is no easy opponent at this stage, as the results have shown so far - his words - We have enormous respect for Ukraine, but if we do a good performance we can qualify and that's the one to which we will aim for. At this point all the teams are really good. "as the results have shown so far - his words - We have enormous respect for Ukraine, but if we do a good performance we can qualify and that is what we will aim for. At this point all the teams are really good. "as the results have shown so far - his words - We have enormous respect for Ukraine, but if we do a good performance we can qualify and that is what we will aim for. At this point all the teams are really good. "
The climate in the Ukrainian home is different. The young team coached by Andriy Shevchenko qualified as best third, showing an effective game only in flashes. The passage of the turn is however 'historic'. It was dragged down by Yaremchuk and Yarmolenko, while Atalanta Malinosky and Manchester City's talented Zinchenko were in the shadows. They passed the first stage thanks to a small victory against North Macedonia, while they were defeated by both the Netherlands and Austria. The Ukrainians showed good qualities, especially offensive, with the imagination and technique of the attackers. The problems are in defense, not well-knit and too fragile. The midfield also failed to protect goalkeeper Buscan, who has already had to collect five balls at the bottom of the net.
Thus the Ukrainian fans have shown themselves to be 'cold' towards their national team. They do not recognize themselves in Shevchenko, who is criticized for not speaking Ukrainian during press conferences, preferring English or even worse the "hated" Russian.
"We will try to play our football as best we can. We have
n't seen what we can do yet," promises Yarmolenko. Shevchenko appears to be more cautious: "I have enormous respect for this Sweden - says the former AC Milan player -, which has two incredible strikers. They are a very organized team, they have a certain style of play and they always follow him. They are very good in verticalization and physically strong ".
The last time the two teams met in an official match was in Kiev on the first day of Euro 2012: Ukraine won 2-1 with a brace from Shevchenko after Ibrahimovic's Swedish lead. There are five 'veterans' of that game, two Ukrainians and three Swedes: among them Lustig, Sebastian Larsson and Yarmolenko who will almost certainly be starting in Glasgow. Referee Daniele Orsato, who will have as assistants Alessandro Giallatini and Fabiano Preti (man-Var Irrati, Davide Massa fourth official).