Ukraine is keeping its chance at the round of 16 of the European Football Championship. Coach Andriy Shevchenko’s team won 2-1 (2-0) against North Macedonia in Bucharest. Andriy Yarmolenko (29th minute) and Roman Yaremchuk (34th) scored the goals for Ukraine, Ezgjan Alioski only managed to catch up (57th).
Thanks to the victory, Ukraine is now at least temporarily level on points with Austria and the Netherlands, who will meet in the evening (9 p.m., TV: ZDF). North Macedonia is about to end after two defeats.
Ukraine started off more aggressively and became dangerous with several attacks. Ruslan Malinovskiy shot from the penalty area line to the lower right corner, goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski parried (8th). A little later, Roman Yaremchuk ran up to the goalkeeper. But instead of shooting, he tried to cross in the six-yard area, defender Stefan Ristovski cleared in great distress (11th). Outsiders North Macedonia hardly ever made it to the Ukraine penalty area and seemed less rebellious than in the 3-1 draw against Austria.
Two goals in five minutes
The chances were there, only one goal was not scored for a long time – until Andriy Yarmolenko was right. Oleksandr Karavaev extended a corner kick from the left with a heel to the far post and Yarmolenko pushed in for the lead (29th). Only five minutes later, the goal scorer made it 2-0: Yarmolenko sent Yaremchuk into the penalty area and the striker hit the goal from a tight angle (34th). On the other side, Goran Pandev apparently made the connection, but was offside when he lifted the Ukrainian goal (39th).
After the break, North Macedonia pushed for the connection: Ukraine goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan steered a shot from Aleksandar Trajkovski to the crossbar (55th). Goran Pandev charged for the rebound and was knocked down by defender Karavaev while Argentine referee Fernando Rapallini gave a penalty. Goalkeeper Bushchan parried Ezgjan Alioski’s penalty, but the North Macedonian scored 2-1 in the margin (57th).
In the final phase, Ukraine got the chance to make a preliminary decision in the form of a hand eleven. The video assistant had pointed out to referee Rapallini that Daniel Avramovski had blocked a free kick into the wall with his arm. But North Macedonia goalkeeper Dimitrievski parried Malinovskiy’s penalty (83 ‘). The goalkeeper gave the signal for the final offensive, but the equalizer no longer fell.
