EURO 2024. Latest from Ukraine's camp: closed training session ahead of match against Slovakia

19.06.2024 23:48

Unlike the previous day, when only 16 players participated in the training session, today all players of the Ukraine national team worked on the pitch at Stadion am Halberg.

Notably, this stadium was once the main venue for SC Wehen until the modern Brita-Arena was built in Wiesbaden. This is not surprising, considering that the red-black club was originally founded in Taunusstein.

Photo by Andriy Yushchak

Two days before the second group stage match of EURO 2024 against Slovakia, the blue-yellow team held a completely closed training session. According to the tournament regulations, the head coach is allowed to conduct one session without media presence before each of their matches.

After a run, warm-up, and ball-holding drills in squares, the team held a recovery training session, which was expected after working in different groups the day before.

Photo by Andriy Yushchak

Today, the main focus was on creating and converting goal-scoring opportunities. Following the coaching staff's instructions, the players practiced combinations with mandatory finishing within a limited timeframe. The primary emphasis was on the quality of finishing and honing goal-scoring skills. The session was highly concentrated, with all players fully focused on preparing for the match against Slovakia.

Photo by Andriy Yushchak

Tomorrow, after breakfast, the blue-yellow team will travel by bus to Düsseldorf, located 200 kilometers from Taunusstein. The EURO 2024 organizers are preserving the pitch, which was seriously damaged after the previous match and heavy rain. Therefore, at the Düsseldorf-Arena, only the pre-match press conference with head coach Serhiy Rebrov and player Oleksandr Zinchenko will take place (starting at 18:30 Kyiv time). Instead, the official training of the blue-yellow team, as well as that of the Slovak national team, will be held at the Paul-Janes-Stadion, the old arena of Fortuna Düsseldorf, named after the 1930s German national team defender with whom Fortuna won their only national championship title in 1933.

Photo by Andriy Yushchak

The Ukrainian team's pre-match training session will start at 19:45 Kyiv time, with the first 15 minutes traditionally open to media representatives.

Ukraine squad for EURO 2024

Goalkeepers: 1. Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kyiv), 12. Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica, Portugal), 23. Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid, Spain).

Defenders: 22. Mykola Matviyenko, 2. Yukhym Konoplia, 21. Valeriy Bondar (all Shakhtar Donetsk), 24. Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv), 16. Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton, England), 13. Illia Zabarnyi (Bournemouth, England), 3. Oleksandr Svatok (FC Dnipro-1 Dnipro), 4. Maksym Talovierov (LASK Linz, Austria), 26. Bohdan Mykhaylichenko (Polissya Zhytomyr).

Midfielders: 7. Andriy Yarmolenko, 19. Mykola Shaparenko, 18. Volodymyr Brazhko (all Dynamo Kyiv), 6. Taras Stepanenko, 20. Oleksandr Zubkov, 14. Georgiy Sudakov (all Shakhtar Donetsk), 17. Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal, England), 15. Viktor Tsygankov (Girona, Spain), 10. Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea, England), 5. Serhiy Sydorchuk (Westerlo, Belgium), 8. Ruslan Malinovskyi (Genoa, Italy).

Forwards: 11. Artem Dovbyk (Girona, Spain), 9. Roman Yaremchuk (Valencia, Spain), 25. Vladyslav Vanat (Dynamo Kyiv).

EURO 2024 Group E: Schedule and Results

June 17: Romania vs Ukraine - 3:0

June 17: Belgium vs Slovakia - 0:1

Standings

June 21: Slovakia vs Ukraine. Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf. Kick-off: 16:00 Kyiv time.

June 22: Belgium vs Romania. Cologne Stadium, Cologne. Kick-off: 22:00 Kyiv time.

June 26: Slovakia vs Romania. Frankfurt Stadium, Frankfurt. Kick-off: 19:00 Kyiv time.

June 26: Ukraine vs Belgium. Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart. Kick-off: 19:00 Kyiv time.

Kick-off times are in Kyiv time.

Oleksandr Hlyvynskyi, Press Secretary of the National Team of Ukraine