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Ukraine picked up their first points of the tournament by edging past North Macedonia

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Thu 17 Jun 2021 11.58 EDTFirst published on Thu 17 Jun 2021 07.45 EDT
Roman Yaremchuk scores Ukraine’s second goal as North Macedonia supporters watch on.
Roman Yaremchuk scores Ukraine’s second goal as North Macedonia supporters watch on. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
Roman Yaremchuk scores Ukraine’s second goal as North Macedonia supporters watch on. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters

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No goal! Ah, that’s a shame. Pandev runs onto a through ball and finishes beautifully, lifting the ball nonchalantly past Georgiy Bushchan. Sadly, he was a yard offside from the pass.

A nice dink over the keeper by North Macedonia’s Goran Pandev puts the ball into the net but it was ruled out for offside. Photograph: Mihai Barbu/Pool/Reuters
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36 mins: North Macedonia might need a moment of inspiration to get back into this. Elmas tries his best here, swivelling away from a Pandev pass, but quickly runs out of room.

This was all too easy, with Yarmolenko playing a first-time pass in behind the defence. Yaremchuk can’t quite believe he’s onside, but steps onto the pass and fires clinically inside the near post.

A calm finish from Roman Yaremchuk doubles Ukraine’s lead. Photograph: Mihai Barbu/Reuters
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GOAL! Ukraine 2-0 North Macedonia (Yaremchuk 34')

Oh dear – the Macedonian back line is all at sea, and Roman Yaremchuk profits to double Ukraine’s lead!

“Anyone else surprised Yarmolenko didn’t cut back onto his left foot before tapping it in?” honks Sam Campbell.

29 mins: This was a clever bit of training-ground trickery, Malinovskyi’s low near-post cross flicked on smartly by Karavaev. It rolls all the way across goal to Yarmolenko, who forces it in at the far post – with his right foot!

Photograph: Mihai Barbu/Reuters
Yarmolenko celebrates after opening the scoring. Photograph: Robert Ghement/Pool/AP
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GOAL! Ukraine 1-0 North Macedonia (Yarmolenko 29')

... and from it, Andriy Yarmolenko gives them the lead!

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“The kit contrast here is very pleasing to the eye,” notes Dennis Mumby. “It has an almost Subbuteo-like quality to it. Luckily the game is a bit quicker than the typical Subbuteo fare.”

Agreed, very much enjoying the red-on-yellow. Big ketchup-mustard/Fun House vibes.

25 mins: Malinovskyi is obstructed by Stefan Spirovski and goes down clutching his throat. It didn’t look malicious from Spirovski, but was definitely a foul. Nothing given by Rapallini, who has presumably seen worse in South America.

23 mins: It’s quickly worked to Yarmolenko on the right, who cuts onto his left foot – but his shot is closed down in the nick of time. Dimitrievski rather flaps at the looping rebound, but North Macedonia survive.

22 mins: North Macedonia look a little tentative going forward, and as an attack breaks down Ukraine spring forward in numbers ...

21 mins: Zinchenko stops Elmas with a crunching tackle. The referee waves play on and Yaremchuk plays in Karavaev. He draws the keeper out but his cut-back can’t find a player in yellow.

16 mins: Nikolov does better here, his searching low cross flicked into the side netting by the dangerous Elif Elmas. A lively start, and no mistake.

14 mins: Enis Bardhi, something of a set-piece specialist, gets a firm long-distance shot away. It’s blocked, and right wing-back Nikolov fluffs his attempted cross on the rebound.

12 mins: A crafty midfield move from Ukraine breaks down as Yaremchuk is caught offside. It looks like Malinovskyi is drifting in from the left, creating a narrow 4-4-2 on the ball.

10 mins: Oof, a big chance for Yaremchuk, who springs a ragged offisde line but tries to square it instead of taking on the shot. Stefan Ristovski gets back smartly to turn his cross behind.

7 mins: Ukraine have made an ominous start, with Yarmolenko’s cross hacked behind for a corner. From it, Mainovskyi forces a fine near-post save from Dimitrievski. From the corner, Yarmolenko almost connects at the far post.

4 mins: The first foray upfield comes from Ukraine, with Malinovskiy whipping a cross towards Yaremchuk. North Macedonia keeper Stole Dimitrievski races off his line to punch clear, and Karavaev’s long-range effort from the rebound flies wide.

North Macedonia’s goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski punches clear. Photograph: Mihai Barbu/EPA
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2 mins: Fun fact! Today’s referee, Fernando Rapallini, is from Argentina and taking charge here as part of an exchange with Conmebol for the Copa América. Sadly, Mike Dean has not been sent the other way to cool down any 20-man brawls.

Peep!

We’re off. There is vocal support for both teams inside the ground, despite a reduced capacity at the National Arena.

The teams are out on the pitch for the national anthems. Bucharest sits between the two countries, about 600 miles from Skopje, and 1000 miles from Kyiv. It’s an ideal neutral venue for this game, which is not something we’ll say too often in this tournament.

The North Macedonia players during the national anthems. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
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Kit clash

Both of these teams suffered sartorial headaches in the buildup to the tournament. Ukraine’s kit featured a map outline and collar slogan (“Glory to the heroes!”) that drew opprobrium from Russia. The slogan has been removed but the map, which includes Crimea, has stayed.

The Ukraine home shirt. Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA

As for North Macedonia, their move away from the national colours of red and yellow to a burgundy shirt attracted fierce opposition back home, so they have returned to their previous sun-soaked shirts. At least Pope Francis now has an ultra-rare gem to add to his shirt collection.

Andriy Shevchenko makes two changes from the team that lost to the Netherlands. Midfielders Taras Stepanenko and Mykola Sharapenko come in, replacing Serhiy Sydorchuk and winger Oleksandr Zubkov, who went off injured in Amsterdam. It looks like Sheva will stick with a 4-3-3 with Ruslan Malinovskyi playing on the wing, a position he has filled occasionally with Atalanta.

North Macedonia coach Igor Angelovski went with a 5-3-2 formation against Austria and while his only change is replacing forward Aleks Trajkovski with midfielder Stefan Spirovski, it looks like he may be a little more aggressive today with a 3-4-2-1 setup. Enis Bardhi and Elif Elmas are the playmakers, tucked in behind Goran Pandev.

Team news

Ukraine: Bushchan; Karavayev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Stepanenko, Shaparenko, Zinchenko; Malinovskyi, Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk.

Subs: Sobol, Sudakov, Kryvtsov, Sydorchuk, Marlos, Pyatov, Makarenko, Tsygankov, Besedin, Trubin, Tymchyk, Dovbyk.

North Macedonia: Dimitrievski; S Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu; Nikolov, Ademi, Spirovski, Alioski; Bardhi, Elmas; Pandev.

Subs: Bejtulai, Ristevski, Trickovski, Trajkovski, Hasani, Jankov, Kostadinov, Siskovski, Radeski, Avramovski, Churlinov, M Ristovski.

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Preamble

Group games at major tournaments can be many things to many people. For the players, coaches, travelling fans and citizens of Ukraine and North Macedonia, the existence of this fixture will be a source of personal and national pride. The game will also deliver a defining moment for one of the teams involved: either North Macedonia’s first points on the biggest stage, or Ukraine’s first Euro finals win away from home soil.

On the other hand, for most armchair neutrals this match probably sits among the skippable fixtures on the wallchart. Until about 15 minutes from kick-off, that is, when that remote-control finger starts itching and the thirst for a Euros fix intensifies. It’s two o’clock on a rainy Thursday; practically the weekend. Ukraine v North Macedonia. Why not?

Why not indeed? Both sides lost their opening games, so this contest has a high-stakes feel already. Creative talents like Ruslan Malinovskyi, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Enis Bardhi and Elif Elmas are all capable of turning a game, while forwards Andriy Yarmolenko and Goran Pandev have provided contrasting highlight-reel moments.

Plus, there’s only – brace yourselves – two more 2pm BST kick-offs left in the tournament after this one. You’ll miss them when they’re gone, so settle in.

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