Nations League. The Ukraine national team confidently defeated Armenia's team in Łódź
In Łódź, Poland, Oleksandr Petrakov's wards secured a convincing victory over Armenia's team.
Photo of Yevgen Kravs
Three days ago, the blue-and-yellow team began their journey in the Nations League with a victory over Ireland in Dublin (1:0). Now, however, Ukraine's national team played its first home match in Group 1 and due to Russia’s invasion was forced to host Armenia in Łódź. Despite this, many Ukrainian and Polish fans gathered at the LKS Stadium with blue-and-yellow flags.
Photo by Yevhen Khravs
Compared to the previous game, only Sidorchuk, Shaparenko and Mudryk remained in the starting lineup. The 37-year-old Pyatov took over in goal for this match, which was his 102nd and last appearance for the national team. It should be noted that Buzhanskyi and Stepanenko could not help our team due to injuries and had already returned home. Due to health issues, Sobolev and Syrota did not make it into the lineup, and Yarmolenko was unable to start for similar reasons.
Photo by Yevhen Khravs
The Ukrainians controlled the ball and played more aggressively from the start, while Armenia, hugging their own penalty area tightly, hoped for counterattacks. On the 7th minute after a great combination involving Zinchenko and Mudryk, Yaremchuk could have scored but shot wide from just a few meters out. Soon afterwards, the visitors responded with an inaccurate shot by Babayyan.
In the middle of the first half, blue-and-yellow players made long-range attempts – Malinovskiy's shot went over the crossbar and Cigankov’s attempt was saved with difficulty by Yurchenko. Just before halftime, Shaparenko had a close brush with scoring but missed narrowly.
In the second half of the match, Pyatov quickly blocked Oganessian's dangerous pass. Soon after, Malinovskiy came onto the scene and needed several attempts to find his range before finally putting the ball in the net on the 61st minute. Karavaev made a great run and passed it to Yaremchuk who missed, but Rusan scored with a beautiful shot. The score was 1:0.
Soon after, Zabarnyi almost gifted Armenia a goal, but Pyatov managed to clear the ball off the line following an unfortunate ricochet from a defender. When the visitors started attacking more frequently and pressing harder, blue-and-yellow scored again very quickly. On the 77th minute Udo intercepted Karavaev's cross from the flank, but the ball returned to Alexander who shot past Yurchenko with his left foot. The score was now 2:0.
Photo by Yevhen Khravs
Our boys did not stop there and extended the score to a crushing one. On the 84th minute after a cross from Zabarnyi from deep, Monroy headed it precisely onto Mikhnenko's foot who then scored. Vitaly’s first goal for the national team, and the final score was 3:0.
Photo by Yevhen Khravs
Thus, the team of Oleksandr Petrakov managed to crack Armenia's tight defense and scored three goals. Pyatov kept a clean sheet in his symbolic match. Next for blue-and-yellow is another home Nations League game against Ireland on June 14th in Łódź.
Nations League. Division B. Group 1
04.06.2022
Armenia — Ireland — 1:0
08.06.2022
Ireland — Ukraine — 0:1
Scotland — Armenia — 2:0
11.06.2022
Ukraine — Armenia — 3:0 (0:0)
Goals: Malinovskiy (61), Karavaev (77), Mikhnenko (84).
Ukraine: Pyatov (c), Zinchenko (Mikhnenko, 77), Matviyenko, Zabarnyi, Karavaev, Shaparenko (Pikhalonok, 70), Sidorchuk (Ignyatenko, 84), Malinovskiy, Mudryk (Zubkov, 78), Cigankov, Yaremchuk (Dovbik, 70).
Substitutes: Lunin, Riznyk, Bondar, Kachaраба, Popov, Yarmolenko, Sykan.
Coach: Oleksandr Petrakov.
Armenia: Yurchenko, Monroy, Voskanyan, Bayramyan (Bichakhchyan, 55), Babayan (Adamyan, 55), Barsgian (Artuyan, 66), Oganessian (c), Mkoyan, Udo, Dashyan (Malakyan, 80), S. Mkrtychyan.
Substitutes: Bunchev, Beglaryan, Aroyan, Grigoryan, Angulo, Margaryan, Serobyan, R. Mkrtychyan.
Referee: Daniel Stefanisky (Poland).
Yellow cards: Zabarnyi (45+2), Zinchenko (66), Matviyenko (87) — Babayan (45+2), Bayramyan (52), Adamyan (89), Voskanyan (90).
June 11, Łódź. LKS Stadium.
Ireland — Scotland 19.00
Standings
|
|
M |
W |
D |
L |
G |
Pts |
|
1. Ukraine |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4—0 |
6 |
|
2. Scotland |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2—0 |
3 |
|
3. Armenia |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1—5 |
3 |
|
4. Ireland |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0—2 |
0 |
Group V1 Match Schedule
June 14, 2022
Armenia — Scotland 19.00
Ukraine — Ireland 21.45
September 21, 2022
Scotland — Ukraine 21.45
September 24, 2022
Armenia — Ukraine 16.00
Scotland — Ireland 21.45
September 27, 2022
Ireland — Armenia 21.45
Ukraine — Scotland 21.45
Match times are in Kyiv time.
According to the regulations, the group winner will earn a promotion to League A, while the last-placed team will drop down to League C for the next cycle.
