The Three Lions played host to Ukraine earlier today at Wembley Stadium in their second qualifier for Euro 2024 in Germany. Having already gotten off to a fantastic start against Italy, England would be looking to do the same against a potentially tricky Ukrainian team. There is no single group of players who have more team unity and collective spirit than Ukraine right now. They know that most of the Western world, aside from their immediate opponents of course, would be hoping that they do well during qualification so that their people could have something to celebrate. The pre-match festivities were centered on the struggle of Ukraine in their war against Russia, and the English FA was also hosting a charity drive to help the victims of the war. When you pair that “bunker” mentality and spirit with talents like striker Mykhailo Mudryk and winger Oleksandr Zinchenko, this match could easily turn into a long day at the office for England. Managers Andriy Shevchenko and Gareth Southgate would have expected both their teams to put up a strong fight.
Unfortunately, the one word that sums up most of this match was “tepid”. This is the first game I have watched in ages between any two teams where not much really happened. There was so much inaction for the opening 35 minutes or so that the camera operators were more frequently showing the joyous Ukraine supporters dancing around than anything happening on the pitch. England were the better side in terms of possession and pushing forward, but they were only creating half-chances at best. Ukraine was doing even less, as they were often struggling to get out of their own half.
England pushed themselves into the lead however on 37 minutes when the newly-crowned all time leader in England goals, Harry Kane, rose over the head of his marker to poke home a cross from winger/forward Bukayo Saka. England had been threatening for a few minutes prior to the goal, but they finally got the ball over the line via Kane. Not a super remarkable goal, but a good cross from Saka and good positioning and strength from Kane. He now has 55 goals in an England shirt, and that tally will only continue to rise. The only question people have about Kane now is how many he’s going to have by the time he retires.
England capitalized on their dominance again just three minutes later, and it seemed the Ukrainians were mentally rattled a little bit. Saka did most of the work by himself this time. He collected a short pass from midfielder Jordan Henderson on the right wing just outside the box, then shrugged off his marker with relative ease. After taking a touch or two, he unleashed a beautiful curling shot from about 20 yards out that flew into the opposite top corner. Ukraine keeper Anatoliy Trubin could do nothing but pick it out of his own net afterwards. His defenders let him down by allowing Saka to have so much space. It was a truly wonderful strike from a player in absolutely top form right now. Saka is having an amazing season at the club level, and his form has carried over to the national team. 2-0 to England, and they were feeling very comfortable indeed.
Shevchenko would have wanted a response from his men in the second half, but it never really materialized. Aside from some instances where England were forced into key defensive tackles, the Ukrainians never really got going at any point. It’s disappointing from their point of view. Talent-wise they should be challenging teams like England, but they looked very disjointed with their passing today. Not a lot of direction or purpose about them, and they weren’t communicating well at all. There were times when it looked like none of the Ukrainians had met one another before. As the clock ticked closer to full time, England looked much more likely to get a 3rd goal than the Ukrainians were to pulling one back. I don’t think they even registered a shot on Jordan Pickford’s goal. The second half was frankly boring, aside from a few England half-chances towards the end. Shevchenko has a lot of work to do with this group if they want to qualify for next summer’s tournament.
The final whistle blew without much fanfare, and the England lads celebrated an efficient victory. England have 6 out of 6 points from their first two matches, and that was objective number one for Southgate and his players. There weren’t a ton of goals scored in either match, but this one was an improvement over the Italy match on Thursday if only because the Three Lions were much more in control over the entirety of the match. Two very strong matches defensively. I would have liked to see one more scored against Ukraine today to really underline England’s superiority, but having sole possession of the lead in Group C with some easier matches coming up is certainly nothing to complain about. Southgate will be happy with the result, especially given he was without several normal starters who withdrew from the squad either due to injury or other reasons. He will be happy that he has the strength in depth necessary to get wins even without those star players. Good games from Kane, Saka, attacking midfielder James Maddison, and the England defense as a collective.
The international break is now over, which means that all the players return to their clubs for the final sprint to the finish of the season. England next play on June 16, 2023 away to Malta in another Euro 2024 qualifier. The next match I will be recapping is Manchester United away to Newcastle on April 2nd in the Premier League.
Three Lions on the Shirts!
4-4-2 