TipResumen

INTRODUCTION

Ukraine managed to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in their first match in the League of Nations and now they will host Slovakia in the second match of the League of Nations. Slovakia started their League of Nations with a 3-0 win over Denmark in their opening match last Thursday.



UKRAINE

Ukraine have played four friendly matches since their failure to play in the World Cup finals and they managed to beat Japan and Albania, while they got draws with Saudi Arabia and Morocco. In their qualifying group, they only managed to finished third and they missed out on finishing second which would have enabled them to get to the playoffs. The home defeat to Croatia ruined everything. Nevertheless they kept faith with coach Shevchenko in the team and other then their good performances in friendly matches after the failure to qualify for the World Cup, they also managed to get a good win away from home against Czech Republic in the League of Nations winning 2-1 thanks to goals scored by Konoplyanka and substitute Zinchenko. As for the team news, now we can expect the same lineup in this match against Slovakia, which means that youngster Yaremchuk should get priority over the experienced Seleznov at the top of the attack in the side.



SLOVAKIA

While Ukraine have already played their first match of the League of Nations, for Slovakia this will be their first match in the League of Nations, but it is very important for them to avoid defeat as a defeat here would mean it would be difficult for them to top the group, where they also have Czech Republic for company. Slovakia did not rest while other teams played their first match in the League of Nations as they played a friendly with Denmark in Trnava and managed to get a 3-0 win over a Denmark side that decided to play with their reserved side. In the porevious qualifiers for the World Cup, Slovakia finished second in their group, however in the end they were the worst second placed team and as a result they failed to get to the World Cup in Russia. Since then they played friendly matches and their form were not constant. In the meantime coach Kozak is still experimenting with the side to find their best side for their first match in the League of Nations.



PAST MEETINGS

Ukraine and Slovakia were in the group in the qualifiers for EURO 2016 and Slovakia managed to win away from home against Ukraimne and they drew at home. Last year however Ukraine won by 2-1 in a friendly match in Ukraine.