Football Results

The Ukrainians played two matches so far and they won four points, since they drew away with Portugal. Serbia also drew with Portugal but that was their first and only qualifier. The two national teams met three times before and Ukraine won each time, while Serbia didn’t score a single goal.

Ukraine

Ukraine wants very much to qualify for the European Championship and right now it is on the right track. They played very well in the Nations League B where they won first place in the group shared with Slovakia and the Czech Republic. They won three matches, and in the end they lost to Slovakia 4-1 but the outcome no longer mattered. Good results in the Nations League obviously increased their self-confidence, and Ukraine played a goalless draw with Portugal away in the first qualifying round.

They were in a subordinate position and goalkeeper Pyatov was the hero of the match but they won very valuable point. They unexpectedly had great deal of problems in the second round when they faced Luxembourg away; they were the first to receive a goal but they quickly equalised the result. The Ukrainians scored the second goal only in the added time, or more precisely the Luxembourgians scored an own goal. Compared to this match, forward J. Morales is not in the team now and that is the biggest handicap.

Probable lineups Ukraine: Pyatov – Butko, Burda, Matviienko, Mykolenko – Malinovskiy, Zinchenko, Stepanenko, Konoplyanka – Marlos, Yaremchuk

Serbia

Serbia also played very well in the Nations LeagueC and it too won the first place, and this is a reserve option for qualification for the European Championship if they fail to so through this qualifications. The Serbs have played only one match so far but that was the most difficult one, with Portugal away, which they managed to draw. They took a lead early on thanks to Tadic but the home team equalised in the first half. The second half was an open match and Serbia could win but they could also lose the match.

In the end they should have been satisfied with the draw which was their second in a row with very strong opponent, since the friendly with Germany also ended as 1-1 draw. In total, Serbia has eight-game unbeaten streak, and they lost the last time to Brazil at the last year’s World Cup in Russia in a group stage, where the defeat sent them home. Out of six games played in the Nations League they won four, and drew two times with Romania. Regarding the team, Kolarov is back on the left flank and again there will be no midfielder Mati, while Milinkovic-Savic is injured and cannot play either.

Probable lineups Serbia: Dmitrovic – Rukavina, Spajic, Milenkovic, Kolarov – Maksimovic, Fejsa – Tadic, Gacinovic, Jovic – A. Mitrovic

Verdict:

Both national teams played well in the Nations League and both started well this qualifying cycle, so we expect an uncertain match which is on top of it very important for both teams. Winning would mean a great step toward the European Championship and we give a slight advantage to the Ukrainians due to the home-field advantage, tradition and less problems with injuries.

Pick: Asian handicap 0 Ukraine 1.87 - 87/100 @1XBet