Ukraine’s third comeback triumph in four competitive games in 2024 kept them in contention at Euro 2024 on Friday as Roman Yaremchuk’s goal sealed a 2-1 win over Slovakia.
After two 2-1 comeback wins in the playoffs in March to reach the tournament, beating Slovakia by the same score revives the team’s campaign. The players are hoping to show Ukrainians’ resilience, more than two years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s poor goal difference following a 3-0 loss to Romania on Monday meant another defeat would have put it on the brink of elimination.
Playing in heavy rain, Slovakia took the lead in the 17th minute with a header from Ivan Schranz, who also scored the only goal in their 1-0 win over Belgium four days ago.
Oleksandr Zinchenko then crossed low for Mykola Shaparenko to score Ukraine’s opening goal of the tournament in the 54th.
Shaparenko played his part in the second goal too, sending a long pass over the top for Yaremchuk, who controlled the ball with his first touch before prodding it past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
Yaremchuk is the second Ukraine substitute to score at a major tournament, alongside Artem Dovbyk, against Sweden at Euro 2020. It was also his third goal at a major tournament, with only Andriy Shevchenko netting more (4).
“In these competitions, you can’t rely on 11 players — you need all 26 who can go on the pitch and change the game. Everyone has to be ready. Everyone has to be sharp. Then you have a chance to do something special,” Yaremchuk said after his winner.
Slovakia is level with Ukraine and Romania on three points in Group E. Romania and Belgium meet in Cologne on Saturday.
Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov made four changes to the team which lost to Romania but the same fragility in defence remained — at least to begin with.
Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, in for Andriy Lunin after errors against Romania, made a series of saves early on but could do nothing to stop Schranz’s header.
Ukraine pushed forward after conceding but was let down by inconsistent finishing. Right-back Oleksandr Tymchyk came closest when his shot was diverted onto the post by Dubravka.
Zinchenko was at fault for the first goal, but pivotal in the second, overlapping on the left flank to receive the ball and cross low for midfielder Shaparenko, who found space to score his first international goal in nearly three years.
Bringing Yaremchuk off the bench to replace the mostly ineffective Dovbyk changed the game again as he surged past the Slovakian defence to score the winner.
The defeat for underdogs Slovakia — needing just one more win to advance early to the next round — will be a reminder of their last Euros, when their opening victory was followed by two defeats and an early exit. But they are determined to make a good run, coach Francesco Calzona said on Friday.
“We had the opportunity but we knew we were coming up against a team that had to win at all costs to stay in the hunt,” the Italian said. “For us we are the Cinderella story of the group stage. The fact that we’re competing to make it through to the knockout stage is already significant.”
