Soccer predictions online for Ukraine – North Macedonia
Ukraine meets North Macedonia in Bucuresti in a match from Group C of the Euro 2020. It’d be a good idea to stay with us because here we will give you our soccer predictions online for this fixture. Let’s get to work!
Ukraine lost their first match at the European Championship, but they don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Andriy Shevchenko’s team faced the Netherlands at the Johan Cruijff Arena and they were just minutes away from winning a point. Until the 85th minute it was a 2-2 draw in Amsterdam, but Denzel Dumfries’ late goal broke the Ukrainian hearts. Before this Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk scored twice for the visitors in the matter of just four minutes.
More or less, losing against Oranje was not something surprising that happened to Ukraine. They remain favorites to join Oranje in the knockout phase as they are a team which should be superior to Austria and North Macedonia. They showed this with their performance against the Netherlands.
In the first game Ukraine’s manager Andriy Shevchenko used his favorite 4-3-3 formation. Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk and Zubkov started in attack while Malinovskiy, Sydorchuk and Zinchenko had to operate in midfield. With this formation Shevchenko proved that he’s not scared of any opponent and he’s not changing his formation because of it.
Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko is one of the true leaders in the Ukrainian team. Despite being just 24-years of old the Premier League champion is a player who just oozes class. At Manchester City he usually plays as a left back, but for his country Zinchenko is operating in the midfield area. He’s a really versatile player, so that’s not a problem for him at all.
There are many reasons why Shevchenko still trusts his striker Andriy Yarmolenko despite the fact that he barely played for West Ham last season. The 31-years old is a player who have scored 41 goals for the national team so far and that’s a good enough reason to be starting. And he did his job against the Netherlands – he scored a goal. But not just a goal, but a stunning one as well – one of the best in the competition so far.
The big difference for Ukraine against North Macedonia should be the return of Viktor Tsygankov. A new star of Ukrainian football, Tsygankov missed the game against the Netherlands because of an injury. Just 23-years of old and playing for Dynamo Kyiv in his country, Tsygankov is an influential midfielder who brings immense quality to the team. According to some news, he’s now fit to play and he should return against the Macedonian team.
In the Ukrainian camp they already admitted this is a must-win game for them. They already lost once in this group, so another unsuccessful game would be a disaster for them. Now it’s time to win.
North Macedonia are complete debutants at a big football competition. The Lynxes faced Austria in their first game, but suffered a 1-3 defeat in Bucuresti. The big event here was the fact that North Macedonia scored their first goal in such a competition. It was the legendary Goran Pandev who put the ball in the net. The Balkan side lost the game in the last 12 minutes when they conceded two goals.
Against Austria North Macedonia used a compact 5-3-2 formation which almost had success in terms of winning a point. The head coach Igor Angelovski is aware that not all of his players are world class stars, so he needs his team to be as compact as possible to achieve success. Against Austria the Lynxes played with a lot of heart, but they just didn’t have enough luck to get a historic first point at European Championship.
The 37-years old Goran Pandev is one of the biggest legends in history of Macedonian football. Pandev, who won the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2010, is the player who leads this team by example on the pitch. It’s a beautiful coincidence that exactly Goran Pandev was the player who scored North Macedonia’s first goal ever at a big competition. He really deserved this privilege.
Napoli’s Eljif Elmas is another key player in the Macedonian squad. Just 21-years old, Elmas is currently playing for Napoli in the Italian Serie A. He’s a very creative midfielder with such great technique, and probably a future star of the game. Elmas played the whole 90 minutes against Austria few days ago.
AEK Larnaca’s Ivan Trichkovski is a player who deserves attention as well. Very experienced with his age of 34 years, Trichkovski is a very dangerous striker. He scored 16 goals for his club last season. The former Club Brugge player came from the bench against Austria, but he was unable to help his team.
North Macedonia’s Aleksandar Trajkovski promised the fans that his team will “never give up” in the remaining two games in this group. The Lynxes still have a chance to do something more in the competition, but it’s going to be really hard – they are not in the best position right now. Given the fact that North Macedonia faces the Netherlands in their third game, reaching the 1/8-finals looks like a really long shot at the moment. It’s not like somebody really expected such a thing from them, though – the Lynxes are the obvious underdogs in this group. And it’s completely normal.
That’s the soccer predictions online for the Euro 2020 match between Ukraine and North Macedonia at the Arena Nationala in the Romanian capital Bucuresti. This stadium didn’t bring them luck against Austria, but now it’s another game and another chance to shine. Ukraine are the favorites here, though. Andriy Shevchenko’s team is superior to this opponent, but they must prove it on the pitch. Ukraine were very close to a sensational comeback against the Netherlands, but just five minutes separated them from winning a point. Now they will aim to win – you can be sure about this.