Gareth Southgate’s England will aim to secure their second win of the Euro 2024 qualifiers with victory over Ukraine on Sunday.
England will return to Wembley after beating Italy 2-1 in Naples, in a performance which saw Harry Kane become England’s all time leading goalscorer.
England last met Ukraine in 2021, where the Three Lions convincingly won by four goals to nil, knocking them out of the Euros at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Harry Kane scored a brace, as well as Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson scoring from fine headers, with the latter’s being his first goal in an England shirt.
A lot has changed for Ukraine since that day in Rome, with the country being invaded in February 2022 by it’s neighbour Russia. Ukraine have since not been able to play in their country or capital city, Kyiv, due to safety concerns. With their last home game being played in Poland, at the Marzalek Pilsudski Stadium in Krakow.
For Sunday’s game, Brentford have allowed the Ukrainian national team to train at their Robert Rowan Performance Centre, with Ukraine also playing a friendly against Brentford B team, which they won 2-0.
Ukraine will look to start their qualifying journey off well after suffering heart break in Cardiff last summer with a 1-0 loss to Wales, which stopped their attempt at reaching the World Cup in Qatar.
Ruslan Rotan, the acting Ukrainian manager since the end of February, is juggling time between managing the mens senior team, the Ukraine U-21 squad, and the Ukrainian Premier League team Oleksandriya. He will have a difficult job in getting his nation off to a winning start.
Key players such as Ilya Zabarnyi and Andriy Yarmolenko are expected to missed out. 20 year old centre back Zabarnyi, who signed for AFC Bournemouth in the January transfer window, has already made 24 appearances for his home nation, but is out injured.
Meanwhile, Yarmolenko who has 112 appearances to his name for Ukraine (scoring 45 and assisting 25) is expected to miss out after being out injured for the past month. The wideman is Ukraine’s captain and second most capped player.
However, Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to return for Ukraine, after being rested in Thursday night’s friendly.
In the 2-0 win over Brentford, Rotan chose to play a more defensive 4-2-3-1 system, exploiting the pace and flair of Viktor Tyshankov and Mykhailo Mudryk on the wing to create opportunities for Ukraine’s front men.
In constrast, Gareth Southgate has many options at his disposal and will be expected to name a much changed side from the victory in Naples, as is always the case, when players come to the England camp in the middle of a demanding Premier League season.
Southgate could give potential starts to Aaron Ramsdale in goal, while Ben Chilwell will most likely come in to replace the suspended Luke Shaw.
In midfield, Maddison could win just his second cap for England, while Jordan Henderson and Conor Gallagher will also push to be included. In attack, Ivan Toney may make his England debut in front of what will be a packed out Wembley crowd.
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More assured England starting to reward Southgate
On Thursday night, Gareth Southgate named an unsurprisingly familiar starting 11. Not just familiar to the 2022 World Cup preferred 11, but going all the way back to the Euros in the summer of 2021.
Nine out of the 11 players that started in Naples, started against Denmark in the semi-final of the last Euro's, with eight of them also starting in the final that year.
Southgate places trust in his players, and in doing so gives them the confidence and assuredness they need to be able to strive on the big stage, something that has been lacking in past major tournaments for England.
Most tellingly on Thursday night, Southgate chose to pick the same midfield duo of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips.
Philips, despite only playing 56 minutes of Premier League football this season, was given a starting role in what was always going to be an intense and physically demanding match against the tenacious Marco Verratti, Nicoló Barella, and Jorginho. The Arsenal player has been crucial to Mikel Arteta in recent weeks in the Premier League.
However, Philips rewarded his manager for placing his trust in him, with a fine display of midfield might. He barged Francesco Acerbi off the ball early on to start an England attack, and showed confidence to come close with a powerful long-range effort later on in the half.
The confidence and trust Southgate places in his players seeps through the whole team, with the players keen to work for their manager, knowing he is not quick to criticise or replace players from his trusted 11.
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‘Brilliant professional’ - Kane eyes up more goals in an England shirt
On an individual level, Harry Kane’s season has been an outstanding success. He has overtaken Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham Hotspur's all time record goalscorer, and has now topped England’s goalscoring list, one which includes names such as Greaves, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Bobby Charlton, and Wayne Rooney.
Prior to Thursday’s game against Italy, Mancini had been full of praise for the England captain describing him as a "complete striker", with Southgate post-match describing how breaking "the record in the way he did, given recent history, was an indication of his strength of character and mentality".
Kane lined up to take last night’s spot kick, just 103 days after his missed penalty against France in the quarter final of the World Cup.
However, he put it firmly out of his mind as he went on to score his 54th England goal in just 81 appearances. Southgate described how he couldn’t be happier for Kane, calling him a "brilliant professional".
For both Kane and Southgate, attention now swiftly focuses on Sunday’s game, with Southgate only willing to describe the Italy win as a "massive result" if England can then go and beat Ukraine, with the England manager asking for Wembley to be at "it’s most vocal and supportive" for Sunday’s showdown.
However, the Three Lions will have to be at their best if they want to be a determined and resilient Ukraine side.