Romania U21 take on the visitors Ukraine U21 U21 in the round 2 match of UEFA Euro U21 group stage. The match will be played on Saturday, June 24th at Stadionul Steaua (Bucharest).
Romania have been quite decent in recent cycles. The standout year was 2019 when, after making their debut in 1998, players like Puskás and Hagi Jr. reached the semifinals of the European Championship. This achievement also secured Romania a spot in the 2020 Olympics. They also managed to qualify for the continental tournament in 2021, but despite a solid performance, they failed to advance from the group stage. The current team was a question mark before the start of the tournament. After all, it is taking place in Romania (and Georgia), which allowed local players to skip the qualification process. In friendly matches, they had draws and losses, with only one victory against Steaua—a match of limited significance. In the tournament itself, they started against Spain and managed to reach halftime without conceding any goals. However, they quickly conceded two goals and eventually suffered a resounding 3-0 defeat.
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Ukraine team has made fewer appearances in the Euro at the youth level, although in other formats, they have achieved success on the continental and even global stage under Petrakov's leadership. Some players from that generation are currently part of the U-21 team, but the coach is Ruslan Rotan. He initially faced challenges, but now there are fewer Ukrainian players abroad, and the youth actively play even for top clubs. In the qualifying campaign, they performed well alongside France and Serbia, losing only to the former. With 7 wins and 23 points, they finished second. However, due to a stronger goal difference, it was Switzerland rather than Ukraine who secured direct qualification to the Euro, forcing the Ukrainians into the playoffs against Slovakia. They won the home shootout 3-2 but then dominated their opponent with a 3-0 victory in the "home" leg. The tournament began with a match against Croatia. The day before, reinforcements arrived from the senior team after the Euro qualifiers—Trubin, Sudakov, Sykan, Vanat, and even the €70 million Mudrik. Only the goalkeeper started in the lineup and managed to keep a clean sheet. However, the hero of the match was Kashchuk, who scored a goal in the first half and provided an assist for Sykan after the break.
These teams were in the same qualifying group before the previous Euro in 2019-2020. At that time, they exchanged home victories, with Romania defeating Ukraine 3-0 at home and Ukraine winning with a narrow 1-0 scoreline in the away match. The "Yellow-Blue" team is now considered the favorites, even when playing against the host nation. However, their status should not be overestimated. It is better to consider a bet on the "under 2.5 goals" option.
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 scored goals.
