Key events
I analyzed England’s win last night.
I look forward to watching Thomas Frank – in the BBC studios this afternoon – as the pundit. I really enjoy his attitude and aggression and he’s also someone I’d go out of my way to hear football talk from.
Then Mihailo Mudrik. It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t just Todd Boehly’s legendary nose for a player that sniffed him out; Mikel Arteta was also keen so we can probably conclude that he can play. The question then is how to get him to play at his best, and a team likely to sit back and counter might just help with that. Whatever people think of him as a player, no one can question the absurdity of his pace and I wouldn’t be shocked if it proves effective during this contest.
Email! “Romania should be pretty comfortable if they can afford to leave Puskas and Hagi on the bench…” laughs Julian Menz.
And don’t forget Olaru – he’s an absolute rock.
Meanwhile, Domenico Tedesco, he can easily talk about me (save the “young” and “very talented” parts).
“Two former England players with me, Conor Coady and Micah Richards…” I shouldn’t have giggled, but I did.
Great news department:
I am very happy to see how Georgii Sudakov is doing. The 21-year-old number 10 established himself in the team during the qualifying campaign and, to be fair, is probably playing for a move. And I also want to see how Artem Dovbyk, last season’s Pichichi winner, does; he should have a lot of fun given the man behind him, but also given the pace of Mykhailo Mudrik and Viktor Tsygankov outside of him.
Ukraine also made one change from the team given in our guide – Alexander Sazhko and Alexander Sereda: Vitaly Mikolenko is injured, so Oleks Zinchenko moves from midfield to left back and Mykola Shaparenko takes his place in the centre.
Romania is almost as expected; Tthe only change to the squad given by Emmanuel Rossu in our team guide is in the middle of defence, where Andrei Burka is alongside Tottenham’s Radu Draguzin.
ok i will write them down then we will think about what they mean.
Teams!
Romania (4-1-4-1): Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; Marin M; Mann, Marin R, Stanciu, Coman; Dragus. subtitles: Moldovan, Tarnovanu, Rus, Nedelcearu, Alibec, Cicaldau, Puscas, Hagi, Mihaila, Olaru, Mogos, Sorescu, Racovitan, Birliga, sut.
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Lunin; Konoplia, Zabarni, Matvienko, Zinchenko; Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Tsygankov, Sudakov, Mudri; Dovbik. subtitles: Bushchan, Trubin, Svatok, Talovyerov, Sidorchuk, Yarmolenko, Malinovsky, Yaremchuk, Mikolenko, Brazhko, Zubkov, Bondar, Timchik, Vanat, Mykhailichenko.
Referee: Glen Nyberg (Sweden)
Preamble
One of the joys of tournament football is that it gives us an excuse to spend all day every day talking about football. Yes, and one of the penalties of tournament football is that it gives other people an excuse to spend all day every day talking about football, but still.
However, sometimes we find ourselves in a situation – like this one – where talking football feels uncomfortable… but we must do so with even more willingness than before. Because still Ukraine are defending themselves against Vladimir Putin’s expansionist war, and although their miraculous presence at this competition is part of that story, their team is a football team, their players are football players and their football team will include football players who play football; as such, we owe it to them to focus on them – without ignoring the things beyond their control.
And Ukraine is also a decent outfit. Goalkeeper Andrii Lunin did well when called up by Real Madrid last season; defender Ilia Zabarni was excellent at Bournemouth; Oleks Zinchenko is eminently suited to the less physical nature of the international game; and Mykhalo Mudryk reeks of internal irrelevance, the cycle of great tournaments we’re seeing right now. Then if you add to that Everton’s Vitaliy Mikolenko and Valencia’s Roman Yaremchuk, plus Artem Dovbyk and Girona’s Viktor Tsihankov, you have a side well placed to take advantage of a very friendly tie.
Which brings us to Romania, a great but prosaic side that reached Germany by beating perennial qualifiers Switzerland in Group I – a good effort, but expected to end there. Until – like Ukraine and Slovakia – they see their opponents and think straight, we will have little of that.
So, given that it’s the first working day of competition football, we will – even if it means getting to know the thoughts of others.
Kick-off: 15:00 local time, 14:00 BST