Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine: Group E thrown up in the air after Ukrainian comeback

Ukraine came back from 1-0 down to defeat Slovakia in Düsseldorf, keeping their hopes of progressing to the round of 16 well and truly alive in the process.

Slovakia dominated the first half, but a decidedly weaker second saw them surrender their lead. The result also means that both of today’s teams join Romania on three points, meaning who will progress from Group E really is anyone’s guess.

As it happened

The better team in the early stages was Slovakia and decidedly so. Seeing almost all of the ball for the first half an hour or so, Francesco Calzona’s side were comfortable and measured, while Ukraine struggled to see the ball. When they did, they looked as though they didn’t know what to do with it.

It took ten minutes for Slovakia to convert possession into chances, and they were desperately unlucky not to convert some of them. The talk in the Ukraine chance was of the man between the sticks; after 31 appearances for Real Madrid last season, Andriy Lunin was dropped after his, shall we say, dodgy performance in last week’s embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Romania. In his place came Benfica’s number one Anatolii Trubin, and the brave decision to bring him in looked an astute one.

He was first called into action in the to deny Lukás Haraslín, who cut past two to drive a shot towards the bottom left corner, only to be met with the outstretched foot of Trubin. Then, only a minute later, he had to get involved again to prevent Ivan Schranz volleying home from point blank range. He looked a perfect fit, and unlucky to have missed out last time out.

Slovakia would get their goal eventually, but not before a third excellent Trubin save; this time, Dávid Hancko stood over a freekick on the right of the area and bent it to the left of the goal. It was a lovely strike, but Trubin wasn’t to be fooled, getting across quickly to push the effort away.

But it was directly from this freekick that they would finally score. Ukraine couldn’t clear their lines, and Haraslín scooped a tremendous cross to the far post where Schranz was waiting to power a low header into the back of the net. He exploded into celebration, and why not; he hadn’t scored for his country in nearly three years, but now Slovakia had scored twice at EURO2024, and he’d notched both of them. Quite the return to form.

After the goal, Ukraine did begin to grow into the game and create a couple of chances of their own. Mykhailo Mudryk drove through the middle before executing his closest replica of a conversion miles from goal, and La Liga topscorer Artem Dovbyk had perhaps his best chance of the tournament, jinking past one before firing an effort which was blocked immediately by Peter Pekarik.

Their best chance came in the 34^th minute, with Dovbyk and Andriy Yarmolenko combining to create a scuffed chance, before the rebound was smashed into the post by right back Oleksandr Tymchyk. Martin Dúbravka, not to be forgotten about among Trubin’s performance, had a terrific first half but was beaten and grateful for the woodwork that time.

Ukraine were able to create some decent chances, but they were all in between extended spells of Slovakian possession. Calzona’s team were the better of the two in the opening 45 minutes, but Ukraine, with their plethora of created chances, at least showed improvement from last week’s abject defeat.

Come the second half, the roles were reversed somewhat. Slovakia were no longer able to maintain possession and their opponents smelt blood.

Only nine minutes into the second half, Ukraine had their equaliser. Heorhii Sudakov played a lovely reverse ball to Oleksandr Zinchenko down the left hand side, with the Arsenal man then squaring it to Mykola Shaparenko in the middle. With acres of space all around him, the Dynamo Kyiv man had no issues tapping it past a stranded Dúbravka. Just like that, Ukraine were level.

Rather frustratingly, neither side was really able to take the impetus to score the next goal after that equaliser. In the minutes immediately after, chances were virtually nonexistent, but it was decidedly Ukraine who were on top; Slovakia hardly saw the ball.

And that would be their undoing. The next big opportunity came all the way in the 74^th minute, with substitute Roman Yaremchuk driving forward with Mudryk to his left. It was a two-vs-one, and they got it all wrong; Yaremchuk carried for too long and Mudryk stayed too central. When the chance came, the Chelsea man had nothing to do with the ball.

Five minutes later, Yaremchuk would make up for that error. Goal scorer Shaparenko lofted a wonderful ball forward in search of the Valencia striker, who brought it down with deft perfection before poking it ever so delicately past Dúbravka from a really tricky angle. For the first time at EURO2024, Ukraine had the lead, and it was one they probably deserved.

The last ten minutes came, and the last ten minutes went. Ukraine held on even after five added minutes and took all three points with them.

For Slovakia, it’s a really disappointing loss. If they’d held their lead, they’d be through to the knockout stages. Now, Group E is totally up in the air.

Ukraine will be delighted, though. Three points puts them level with their rivals today and the side who thrashed them last week, meaning their destiny is in their hands: beat Belgium and go to the round of 16. That may seem daunting – but if Slovakia could do it, Ukraine shouldn’t be written off.

Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but you can find out right here at FromTheSpot.

The Lineups

SVK: Dúbravka; Hancko, Škriniar, Vavro, Pekarik; Duda, Lobotka, Kucka; Haraslín, Bozenik, Schranz

UKR: Trubin; Zinchenko, Matviienko, Zabarnyi, Tymchyk; Brazhko, Shaparenko, Sudakov; Mudryk, Dovbyk, Yarmolenko