Ready the fish and chips and brace yourself for what should be a good old-fashion England beat down (see below).
The Three Lions will see their best player, Wayne Rooney, return from suspension whereas Ukraine’s talisman, Andriy Shevchenko (pictured below), will most likely have to sit out with an apparent knee injury.
Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin rated the chances of his captain being fit to play at ”50-50” and said he would only decide shortly before kickoff.
Expect England to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Ukraine in the Donbass Arena as they need a better goal differential than France, least they should face Spain in the next round.
“Everyone knows what Wayne Rooney is all about and he certainly makes us more threatening going forward,” captain Steven Gerrard said in a press conference. “I can see in his eyes he is itching to go out and perform and hopefully he will play really well tomorrow and be the difference.
While the support will be disproportional behind the home squad, a quick goal from England should be enough to silence the home crowd, as seen when Ukraine played France.
Although Ukraine needs a win to pull through to the next round, in the humble opinion of this author, they simply lack depth and talent in their squad that’s required of a quarter-final team.
Although soccer is unpredictable at the best of times, it’s difficult to imagine England not beating the 52nd ranked Ukraine in such a pivotal match.
Here is how the teams will line up:
England: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner, Gerrard,
Parker, Young, Rooney, Welbeck.
Roy hodgson opted to go with a man utd attack tonight, rooney, welbeck and young on the wing!
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Thomas Costin (@Mr_Costin) June 19, 2012Subs: Green, Kelly, Walcott, Henderson, Carroll, Baines, Jones, Jagielka, Downing, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Defoe, Butland.
Ukraine: Pyatov, Gusev, Khacheridi, Selin, Rakitskiy,
Yarmolenko, Tymoschuk, Konoplianka, Garmash, Devic, Milevskiy.
Subs: Koval, Kucher, Shevchenko, Aliev, Voronin, Shevchuk,
Rotan, Seleznyov, Mykhalyk, Nazarenko, Butko, Goryainov.
Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
Prediction:
England 3 Ukraine 0
England fans enjoy the pre match atmopshere before the England match with Ukraine in Donetsk. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
