Ukraine take on the visitors Malta in the round 4 match of UEFA Euro qualification. The match will be played on Monday, June 19th at City Arena Trnava (Trnava).
Ukraine team under Andriy Shevchenko achieved the maximum result, at least in terms of the Euros, by reaching the quarterfinals. But then the local legend (and already quite successful coach) practically "left," with mutual accusations and the non-renewal of the contract. They placed their bet on Petrakov, who, although not failing, couldn't achieve any tasks in the end. The team didn't qualify for the World Cup, although they looked decent, considering the circumstances: they finished second in the group, not losing to France in both matches (but also not winning against Kazakhstan), and advanced to Glasgow after defeating Scotland in the first playoff match. However, a fateful own goal by Yarmolenko in the match against Wales changed everything. Later, the "Tartan Army" took revenge and surpassed Ukraine to claim the top spot in the UEFA Nations League group. It's not surprising that they didn't continue their cooperation with the coach, but they also didn't rush to find a replacement. In March, they lost 0-2 to England away under Rotan, the coach of the youth team, who became the interim coach. It was only in the summer that they finally signed a contract with Rebrov. He made his debut in a friendly match against Germany, which turned out to be contradictory and exciting: his new players conceded first but responded with three goals of their own, only to fail to maintain the lead. The match against North Macedonia in Skopje last Friday was even more dramatic, with a disappointing first half and a victorious comeback after the break.
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Malta didn't reach the level of even "South Iceland" in terms of football, let alone Luxembourg. This underdog has not won more than one match in any of the qualifiers and often remained winless throughout the cycle. And, by the way, considering this, the 5 points they earned in the previous World Cup qualification can be considered a very respectable outcome. In friendly matches, they had a 2-1 victory against Israel and a 2-2 draw against Greece last year, and even a 1-0 win against Luxembourg in early June, away from home! However, in the previous UEFA Nations League, they only won against an even weaker underdog, San Marino, and suffered two 1-2 defeats against Estonia. They repeated this negative scoreline at the start of the new qualification, against North Macedonia, and the 0-2 loss to Italy was more than expected. England scored twice as many goals, with three of them coming in the first 30 minutes, and the substitutes added another goal.
More precisely, they have played one match, and it was a friendly. In the summer of 2017, Malta sensationally won that match thanks to Muscat's lone goal. He is still in the squad, and Ukraine also has several players who were in the lineup back then. The "Yellow-Blue" team is certainly not England, and playing the third match in a row can be challenging. However, against such an opponent, it's still reasonable to bet on the nominal hosts with a handicap of "-1.5 goals."
Prediction for the match: Ukraine to win with -1.5 handicap.
