Both Ukraine and North Macedonia conceded late goals in their opening matches at the European Championship, and both lost because of them.
Ukraine, North Macedonia need points after Euro 2020 losses. Check out match details, team details and likely XIs here
Both Ukraine and North Macedonia conceded late goals in their opening matches at the European Championship, and both lost because of them.
Euro 2020 Primer | Ukraine Profile | North Macedonia Profile | News
The teams will next play each other at Euro 2020 on Thursday, knowing another loss just might end their chances of advancement.
The top two teams in each of the six groups advance to the round of 16, along with the four best third-place teams.
Ukraine managed to recover from two goals down against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Sunday, but Denzel Dumfries headed in an 85th-minute winner for the Dutch.
바카라We come back after 2-0 down and it's so frustrating to lose a game in the last minutes,바카라 said Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko, who scored one of his team's goals.
바카라We have two more games to go and we will still play with the same energy,바카라 he said.
바카라If we (advance), then it will be great.바카라
North Macedonia, one of the two tournament newcomers at Euro 2020 along with Finland, had been holding Austria to a 1-1 scoreline before substitutes Michael Gregoritsch and Marko Arnautovic scored a goal each in the waning minutes at the National Arena in Bucharest on Sunday. That gave Austria its first ever victory at the continental championship.
North Macedonia captain Goran Pandev, who scored his 38th international goal in the match, said even a loss at a major tournament can help his team grow.
바카라It was a great experience for us as a first match at this kind of tournament. I think we played an excellent 80 minutes,바카라 Pandev said.
바카라We needed to take advantage of our few counterattacks and we didn't. In the end, that is football.바카라
Neither Ukraine nor North Macedonia would have been considered favorites in their opening games, but both were in good form ahead of the tournament.
Sunday's loss was the first for Ukraine in seven matches this year, while North Macedonia recorded eight wins and only three losses in its last 15 games 바카라 including a shock away win over Germany in World Cup qualifying in March.
Ukraine is appearing in its third European Championship, including co-hosting the event in 2012, but has only won one match and has never progressed out of the group stage.
Meanwhile, both teams need to limit distractions caused by nationalist issues.
Ukraine's yellow-and-blue jerseys for Euro 2020 enraged Russia because they featured an outline of the country's territory showing the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
UEFA has allowed the map to remain 바카라 since Russia's annexation is viewed as illegal under international law 바카라 but the slogan 바카라Glory to the heroes바카라 was removed because it was determined to be 바카라clearly political in nature, having historic and militaristic significance.바카라
The Ukrainian soccer federation said that talks with UEFA about the issue continue.
The North Macedonian soccer federation has asked for action to be taken against Marko Arnautovic for an incident in Sunday's match, claiming the Austria striker made offensive nationalist comments to a North Macedonia player of Albanian descent.
UEFA has said it will investigate the matter. ( With inputs from AP)
Match And Telecast Details
Match: UEFA European Championship 2021, Group C match between Ukraine and North Macedonia
Date: June 17 (Thursday), 2021
Time: 6:30 PM IST
Venue: National Arena Bucharest
TV Channels: Sony Sports Network
Live Streaming: SonyLIV, Jio TV
Head-to-Head: The two sides have met four times with Ukraine winning 2, and North Macedonia winning one. One matches ended in draw
Likely XI
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski; S. Ristovski, Musliu, D. Velkovski, Alioski; Nikolov, Ademi, Bardi; Elmas, Pandev, Trajkovski
Ukraine: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Zinchenko, Sydorchuk, Malinovskyi; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Tsygankov
Previous Match Line-ups
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski; Nikolov, S. Ristovski, D. Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Bardi, Ademi, Elmas; Pandev, Trajkovski
Ukraine: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Sydorchuk, Zinchenko, Malinovskyi; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Zubkov