Ukraine v France Euro 2012 Preview & Tips

Ukraine looks to build on their win against Sweden when they face France on Friday, June 15. The game in Ukrainian soil kicks off at 17:00 GMT.

Teams News

Ukraine

Andriy Shevchenko scored a brace in a win against Sweden that will forever be etched on the face of Ukraine’s footballing history. The two goals which came in the span of six minutes was a quick-fire reply to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike; and with the slight lead the Yellow-Blues held on to complete an epic night in front of their faithful. The win drove Shevchenko and his team to the summit of the Group D table with two more games to go before the knockout stages.

More work needs to be done however as the two strongest teams in the group are lined up for the Ukrainians to face; they begin with France before facing England on the final match of the group stages. Against France head coach Oleh Blokhin could start with an unchanged side from the Sweden game, and this time around he will be hoping that they will not need to come from behind just to win this game.

France

Despite having more time with the ball, France couldn’t engineer a win against England in their first Euro 2012 match. A 39th bottom-left-corner strike – a reply to an earlier Joleon Lescott header – was the last goal in a game where the second half went France’s way offensively, and to England defensively. Blanc will surely rue the missed chances as a win would have perfectly set them up for an easy group stage then onward.

Yann M’Vila is still a doubt; against the England game it was Alou Diarra who took his post alongside Yohan Cabaye. Diarra played considerably well, so did Cabaye, but they were clearly outplayed by the English midfield duo of Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker. ‘Franckly’, only Ribery (pun intended) and Samir Nasri were the bright spots in a Les Bleus eleven that was clearly sputtering in terms of creativity.

Ukraine v France Betting Preview

France is once again expected to dominate the proceedings here; their possession-game is an admirable sight, and against Ukraine you would expect them to do even better than they did against England. They need to improve on their finishing however if they want to take this game easily. The Ukrainians fired a warning shot by making Sweden pay in their last match, and if France can’t put away clear-cut chances, then a European legend that goes by the name of Andriy Shevchenko could punish them to death.

Betting Tip

Verdict: France with the win, 1-0.

Tip: Count on France to take this game – the England game should have been enough of a warm up for Blanc’s team – at 2.10. But Ukraine to win is a tempting prospect after what they did to the Swedes; they are at 3.75 to take all three points from this match. If you’re in it for underdog-support, 3.75 is already profitable to turn down. This game could be decided via a narrow score-line, so a 1-0 win for France at 5.50 or a 1-1 draw at 6.00 should be enough (again, the latter if you’re a true-blue supporter of underdogs).

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).