Ukraine lost its opening match of the European Championships to Romania with a score of 0–3. It was a big surprise. Nicolae Stanciu scored the best goal of the Games.
Riku Porvari,
Jussi Vainikka
European Football Championship on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
Raised as a potential surprise of the Games, Ukraine lost their opening match of the European Championship with a clear score of 0-3.
– Considering the presets, this was the biggest surprise in the games so far. I couldn’t imagine that Ukraine would lose this game, Urheilu’s expert Mehmet Hetemaj evaluate.
Romania defended unitedly and finished off some great goals. In addition to everything good, the captain of Romania Nicolae Stanciu completed the most spectacular hit of the games so far.
– Very high quality Right-footed spin kick. It was great to watch it again. It was technically a really high-quality shot, Hetemaj states.
Expert Hetemaj says that Ukraine was bad when, for example, several individuals gave a lot of false passes. Romania pressed together again, and thus made Ukraine’s opening game really challenging.
– Romania clichédly played as a team, and the individuals did not start soloing.
The Ukrainian team is of great importance to their country
visited the Ukrainian Football Association event in the center of Munich. The football legend, the president of the country’s association, spoke at the event Andriy Shevchenko.
The association had also brought benches from the Kharkiv stadium. The stadium was one of the venues for the 2012 European Championship. According to the union, Russia has bombed 77 football stadiums in Ukraine during its war of aggression.
By organizing the event, the association wanted to remind that Ukrainian football is not an actor outside of politics.
– A really touching event and sad. Lots of touching speeches. It’s somehow really unreal that Ukraine is at war while the games are being played. It somehow doesn’t fit in my head, Urheilu’s expert Paulus Arajuuri described his experience of the event.
Several statements from Ukraine about the war
The Ukrainian national team has published two videos on their social media accounts, in which war and football are strongly combined. In the first video, the players told their names, club teams and hometowns.
After naming the hometown, the video shows ruined cities, explosions, rescue workers and Ukrainian soldiers.
– At the moment Makijivka, Saky and Donetsk are temporarily occupied, goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin says in the video.
You can see the video at this link or from the insert below.
In the second video, Ukrainian soldiers are watching the match of the national team and playing football in their homeland.
Also captain of Ukraine Oleksandr Zinchenko commented on the importance of the national team for his country in an interview with UEFA, the European football association. He stated that the situation in the home country affects every player.
– We don’t need additional motivation because we understand the time we live in. This is a really difficult time, Zinchenko said.
Among other things, Zinchenko thanked the soldiers who risk their lives fighting for Ukraine’s independence. Thanks to them, the team can play in the European Championships, the captain stated.
– We have a lot of supporters who watch our games. Not just in the stands or the stadium, but also in the trenches. Every time we put on the Ukraine jersey, it’s a double, if not triple, motivator for us.
European Football Championship on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
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