EURO 2012 MATCH 8 | UKRAINE to Battle SWEDEN

EURO 2012 MATCH 8 | UKRAINE to Battle SWEDEN Live 2:45AM GMT+8

Possible Line-Up

UKRAINE

Pyatov,Husyev, Khacheridi, Mykhalik, Selin,Timoschchuk, Nazarenko, Konoplyanka,Yarmolenko
Devic, Voronin

SWEDEN

Isaksson, Lustig, Melberg, Granqvist, Olsson, Elm, Svensson, Kallstrom, Larsson, Toivonen
Ibrahimovic

Head-to-head

·         The two countries have met on three previous occasions - all friendlies - and two of those matches came last year.

·         Both sides recorded 1-0 away wins, Ukraine's coming in June 2008, Sweden's in August 2011. The draw was played out in Cyprus in February 2011. Afterwards the sides contested a penalty shoot-out which Ukraine won 5-4.

Ukraine

·         Ukraine are the only debutants at Euro 2012. The first four European Championships (1960-1972) were won by newcomers but none have been since.

·         Of all the 368 players at Euro 2012, Andriy Shevchenko has enjoyed the longest international career. He made his debut in 1995.

·         Oleg Blokhin's men are the only side at Euro 2012 without a British-based player in their squad.

·         Only two players, Andriy Voronin and Anatoliy Tymoschuk, play outside of Ukraine.

·         As co-hosts they will have the crowd behind them, but Blokhin's men have lost four of their last eight home outings.

·         After Poland's 1-1 draw with Greece, none of the last eight hosts have won their opening games at the Euros.

·         The Ukrainians are yet to find the back of the net in open play at a major tournament finals.

·         Ukraine boss Blokhin scored against their Group D opponents in a friendly game for the Soviet Union in 1982.

Sweden

• Olof Mellberg is set to represent Sweden at a fifth major tournament. He is yet to miss a single minute at any of the finals he's been present at.
• Sweden coach Eric Hamren has selected nine players aged 30 or older - the highest number of thirty-somethings at Euro 2012.
• Kim Kallstrom recorded seven assists during qualifying for Euro 2012, equal highest along with Germany's Mesut Ozil and Hungary's Balazs Dzsudzsak.

·         Since their semi-final appearance when hosting the tournament in 1992, the Swedes have managed just two wins from 10 ten games.

·         AC Milan forward Ibrahimovic (pictured right) has netted in his last three matches for his country.

·         Hamren's men scored in all 10 games in their qualifying campaign, bagging more than one goal in eight of them.

·         Each side have one victory from the previous three meetings between the two, with the other match being drawn.

source: http://epltipsonline.blogspot.com/2012/06/euro-2012-match-8-ukraine-to-battle.html