English 
Ukraine could be quickly eliminated from the European Championship
Slovakia started with a great win and Ukraine with a brutal defeat.
Group E provided both of the bombshells in the first group stage of the tournament, so it’s already a safe bet that it will be an exciting last four. Of course, it’s not certain for the Slovaks or the Romanians, who are already through to the next round with 1 point, but rather the Belgians and the Ukrainians, one of whom is almost certainly out. Let’s see what Slovakia and Ukraine can do against each other.
Despite the extra betting on the home situation, Ukraine played some awfully poor football against Romania, with only 2 shots on goal to scare the Dubravka goalkeeper. Of course, Sergei Rebrov’s statement suggests that they are far from giving up on progress, but they will need a much better performance at both ends of the pitch against Slovakia.
Not only was the attacking play very poor against the parading Romanians, but the Ukrainians’ defence was also very poor, and goalkeeper Lunin, who has been a Real Madrid stalwart, scored some avoidable goals. The big question is, however, how the former Ferencváros manager intends to achieve this huge improvement in form, although the preliminary starts suggest he does not envisage this being achieved through man changes.
“I would like to apologise to everyone, I’m the reason we scored goals. But that’s the fate of goalkeepers, if you make a mistake it shows on the scoreboard. I’m sorry that, despite the effort of my teammates, it was my mistake that changed things,” said a self-critical Lunin.
Apart from the Real goalkeeper, the attacking play left something to be desired, only Mudryk made himself noticed with 1-1 good cheats and shots, and he could have a big role to play on Friday.
On the other side, however, there is cause for celebration as the Slovaks pulled off the biggest surprise of the tournament by beating Belgium. Despite the Golden Generation’s last chance, the beleaguered Slovakian side managed to stifle Lukaku’s play and on two occasions VAR came to their rescue. While it cannot be said that our northern neighbours won out of nowhere, the numbers suggest that the Belgians did more to get the points, but that is football.
So the situation is simple: Ukraine need to win, while the Slovaks could feel they are already in the last 16 with a win, so the goal for both teams is clear.
If Ukraine had been able to play a bit better football, we would have had confidence in them despite the defeat, but it’s a tough ask. It looks like a pretty unpredictable 90 minutes, but we’re definitely winking at the under, as good attacking play was lacking from both sides in the first round.
Best free picks for Slovakia-Ukraine
Apart from the fact that both teams don’t score, we’re also betting on the Ukrainians’ cards, as this is more of a one-off game for us, and Rebrov’s team disciples could end up losing the game.
