Germany vs Ukraine Preview & Prediction | 2024 International Friendly
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From trying to stave off humiliation in this tournament a few months ago to excitement now building as hosts and one of the favourites, Germany begin their preparations for UEFA EURO 2024 in earnest against a strong Ukraine side in this one.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Monday 3rd June, 2024 - UK – 19:45 / US EST – 14:45 / US PST – 12:45
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: This match will be televised live on Premier Sports in the UK. / This match will not be televised live in the US.
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: This match will be able to be streamed live via the Premier Sports app in the UK. / This match will not be able to be streamed live in the US.
GERMANY PREVIEW: PREPARING TO HOST
Julian Nagelsmann took charge of the German national team for the first time during the October international break, replacing one-time treble winning coach Hansi Flick after Die Mannschaft continued to perform poorly in the build up to hosting this summer’s UEFA European Championships, following on from their group stage exit at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
There was talk that, after a tricky first few games for Nagelsmann, that the hosts could find themselves in trouble in what could be a tricky Group A alongside Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland. However, with excellent performances on the continent from Bundesliga clubs, Toni Kroos coming out of international retirement for the tournament and momentum building with excellent performances against the Netherlands and France in March; they have moved themselves back into the category of contenders.
UKRAINE PREVIEW: AGAINST ALL ODDS
Ukraine qualified for this summer’s tournament in dramatic circumstances back in March. Under the management of former Tottenham Hotspur striker Serhiy Rebrov, the Ukrainians won their playoff semi-final against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo with two late goals to turn the game on its head before then needing another late turnaround to defeat Iceland in their playoff final in Wroclaw.
There is a seriously impressive core to this Ukrainian side and they will be looking to replicate what they did at UEFA EURO 2020 when they reached the quarter-finals. With La Liga golden boot winner Artem Dovbyk leading the line and goalkeeping options of Anatoliy Trubin and Andriy Lunin, they have both ends of the pitch covered. Illya Zabarnyi and Mykola Matvyenko in defence with Oleksandr Zinchenko, now named captain, and some really exciting talent such as Mykhaylo Mudryk, Heorhiy Sudakov and Viktor Tsygankov round off a fine squad.
GERMANY TEAM NEWS: UCL COMPLICATIONS
Julian Nagelsmann got some good work done in the March international break but the former Bayern Munich boss will now have to contend with the UEFA Champions League final stealing a lot of his players for this clash, such as Real Madrid duo Antonio Rudiger and Toni Kroos, as well as Borussia Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck and striker Niclas Fullkrug. That does limit the options he has for this one.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Kimmich, Anton, Tah, Mittelstadt; Andrich, Gross; Musiala, Gundogan, Wirtz; Havertz
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QUESTIONABLE:
UKRAINE TEAM NEWS: FINDING A FORMULA
For all the quality that Ukraine do possess and the fact they have been threatening this so-called ‘golden generation’ for a while now, they are still yet to absolutely convince – even when reaching the last eight of the last EUROs. They will need to find a balance and way of shoe-horning the aforementioned Tsygankov, Mudryk and Sudakov into a functional system that has enough fluency to serve Dovbyk up-front.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Trubin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvyenko, Mykolenko; Malinovsky, Zinchenko, Sudakov; Tsygankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk
UNAVAILABLE:
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GERMANY VS UKRAINE PREDICTION
Germany, in their performances against the Netherlands and France, looked genuinely slick and reinvigorated with an abundance of talent all over the pitch. The disjointed nature of a friendly, though, does mean they are perhaps unlikely to be as fluent as they were and could be suspect defensively with their results before that always being high-scoring games. Ukraine, with their star attackers and quite lob-sided eleven in which there are basically two forward thinking ‘eights’ in Malinovsky and Sudakov either side of Zinchenko, should be fun to watch throughout the next month.
GERMANY VS UKRAINE TIP: OVER 2.5 GOALS
