Ukraine vs Slovenia Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Nov 11, 2015 @ 01:07 am

Next Saturday, 14th of November 2015, the Ukraine will go head-to-head with Slovenia at Arena Lviv for the first leg of the UEFA European Championship play-off stage.

The Ukrainian supporters have certainly not yet forgotten the painful elimination at the hands of Slovenia back in 1999, when both sides were attempting to secure a place in the UEFA Euro 2000. After a 2-1 defeat away from home, the Ukraine failed to overcome Slovenia at Kyiv and ended up being held to a 1-1 draw that immediately ruled them out of the European Championship which took place in Belgium and in the Netherlands in the following year. Sixteen years have passed since that day and things have considerably changed since then.

The Ukraine have once again a quality set of footballers that are being superiorly led by Mykhaylo Fomenko, an extremely experienced head coach, that has drastically changed the team’s game style after taking the helm of the National Team in December 2012, replacing the legendary former Soviet international Oleg Blokhin.

In their last group stage match, the Ukrainian team did good against Spain, but the former World and European champions grabbed the win thanks to a lonely first-half goal by Villarreal’s right back Mario Gaspar.

The Ukrainians have a set of quality players in the midfield line such as Taras Stepanenko (who will miss next time out due to suspension) and Dynamo Kyiv’s playmaker Denys Garmash, but their most important assets are up front, with Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka leading the team’s attacking movements.

As for Slovenia, after revealing some inconsistency during the group stage matches, Srecko Katanec’s men managed to end the qualifying campaign on good form. A narrow home win over Estonia, a 1-1 draw at Lithuania and a sparkless performance at San Marino granted them a place in European Championship play-off stage.

Katanec was at the helm of Slovenia when they eliminated the Ukraine back in 1999 and he is hoping now to replicate such moment when both sides measure forces again next Saturday.

Josip Ilicic and Dejan Lazarevic are on verge of suspension and a yellow card at Lviv on Saturday will force them to miss the second leg match.

Ukraine

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LWDWW

Slovenia

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - WDWLL

Possible Line-ups

Ukraine (4-2-3-1) –Pyatov - Fedetskyi - Rakitskiy - Kacheridi - Shevchuk - Rotan - Sydorchuk - Garmash - Konoplyanka - Yarmolenko - Kravets

Slovenia (4-4-1-1) - Oblak - Struna - Samardzic - Cesar - Jokic - Kurtic - Krhin - Birsa - Kirm - Beric - Ilicic

Injury List / Suspended Players

Ukraine - Stepanenko (sus) - Kucher (sus)

Slovenia - none

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions