Published: Jun 12, 2016, 11:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 30, 2016, 07:18 PM (IST)
Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Match 6 of Euro 2016 which is being played between Germany and Ukraine at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, France. Germany, who lifted the FIFA World Cup in 2014 have not been at their best since that achievement. They have lost a total of seven times since their fourth-ever World Cup victory. Even during the qualifying rounds, they struggled and even lost to the likes of Poland and Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile in friendlies, they lost to England and Slovakia. Germany and Ukraine have been placed in Group C along with Poland and Northern Ireland.
90+2: GOALLLLL! What a way to end the game! He comes in, he scores and leaves. Maybe this is called all about experience. Mesut Ozil’s cross pass is collected by Bastian Schweinsteiger who being the freshest player on field finds the top roof of the net successfully to give Germany a 2-0 victory in their opening game.
90 mins: Germany makes a replacement on the last minute. The experienced man Bastian Schweinsteiger replaces Gotze for the final two minutes.
74 mins: Gotze with the ball. He looked dangerous when he edged the ball into the box, but fell short of good distance. Remember winning goal in the final of FIFA World Cup 2014 against Argentina? Doesn’t seem at that best.
49 mins: Ouch. Yevhen Khacheridi is brought down by a German man. Hope he is not hurt much. The opponent escapes without any card. He looks fine, gets up and joins back. Meanwhile, Toni Kroos is into action again, he drives the ball at the bar but goes wide off.
Second half kicks off!
Half time! We should probably all take a seat and catch our breath. A back and forth game, but it’s #GER 1-0 #UKR! pic.twitter.com/TgLBr4SpeA
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 12, 2016
45 mins, HALF-TIME: The last couple of minutes surely belonged to the Ukraine players. They are slowly starting to regain their confidence in this game after the early goal by the Germans.Two corners for them in the last 2 minutes. No goal scored but belief is still seen in their action and body language.
31 mins: BBC football journalist describes the Ukraine skipper best on this occasion. ” Ukraine skipper Viacheslav Shevchuk doesn’t score many. Here is why. He has a sight of goal but fires wide of the post from the edge of the box.”
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 12, 2016
27 mins: What a save! Manuel Neuer once again proves he is one of the best goalkeepers of this generation. That was a great chance for Ukraine to equalise. Corner for Ukraine, Yevhen Khacheridi jumps high for a header but the ball is pushed wide by one strong palm of Neuer!
23 mins: Toni Kroos is set for another free kick. This one goes deflected. This German side looked unsettled before the whistle. After this stellar start, they are probably back to their best and look confident more than ever.
NOTE: That is Shkodran Mustafi’s first goal for his country in his 11th cap.
19 mins: GOALLLLLLLL! Kroos with the free kick and a beautiful header from Shkodran Mustafi who flies over the defender to put the World Champions 1-0 up in their first game here. The ball went straight to the top left of the post, leaving the Ukraine goalie with no time for an attempt to block that one.
8 mins: Germans attack again, this time it is Thomas Muller with the header, a decent one must say. However, his cross was too high for the post.
4 mins: Gotze has the ball, drives it into the box only to get his shot blocked. It is Draxler next, collects the rebound well but the shot goes wide of the post.
2 mins: As expected the ball possession is with the Germans. Ukraine’s strengths lie with the defenders, lets see if they crease an upset here. A goal-less draw will also be a huge achievement for them.
We are moments away from the kick-off. This is the first appearance of the World Champions in Euro 2016.
Playing XI:
Germany: Neuer (GK), Howedes, Boateng, Mustafi, Hector, Khedira, Kroos, Muller, Ozil, Draxler, Gotze.
Ukraine: Pyatov (GK), Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Rakitskiy, Shevchuk, Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Yarmolenko, Kovalenko, Konoplyanka, Zozulya.
Germany have won the European champions three times (1972, 1980 and 1996), which is the most alongside Spain (1964, 2008 and 2012). With Joachim Low’s squad unsettled at the moment, Ukraine will aim to cause a huge upset in the Match 6 of UEFA Euro 2016. Their chances fancy on the form of their wingers Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka, who have been in a tremendous form off late. However history goes against Ukraine as they have lost to these opponents in their last five meetings. This is nevertheless, the first meeting of Germany and Ukraine in a major tournament.
Squads:
Germany:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona).
Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Emre Can (Liverpool), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Antonio Ruediger (Roma).
Midfielders: Julian Draxler (Wolfsburg), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Andre Schurrle (Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Julian Weigl (Dortmund).
Forwards: Mario Gomez (Besiktas), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Schalke).
Ukraine:
Goalkeepers: Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Denys Boyko (Besiktas), Mykyta Shevchenko (Shakhtar Donetsk).
Defenders: Yevhen Khacheridi (Dynamo Kiev), Bohdan Butko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Artem Fedetskyi (Dnipropetrovsk), Oleksandr Karavaev, Oleksandr Kucher, Yaroslav Rakytskiy, Vyacheslav Shevchuk (all Shakhtar Donetsk).
Midfielders: Serhiy Rybalka (Dynamo Kiev), Denys Garmash (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kiev), Yevhen Konoplyanka (Sevilla), Ruslan Rotan (Dnipropetrovsk), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Anatoliy Tumoschuk (Kairat), Oleksandr Zinchenko (UFA).
Forwards: Roman Zozulya (Dnipropetrovsk), Pylyp Budkivskyi (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yevhen Seleznyov (Shakhta Donetskr).
