GROUP C
Ukraine 3-1 Belarus
Tsygankov 6'
Marlos 30'
Tsygankov 84'
Shevchenko 87'
Eamonn Foster
Ferenc Puskas Stadion, Budapest, Hungary
Thursday 18th June
Having been drafted in at the eleventh hour to cover this game I feel I have had a taste of both the best and worst elements of an international European tournament spread across no fewer than twelve different cities. After covering Portugal’s romp against Bulgaria in Bucharest on Tuesday evening I was all set to cover the Netherlands’ second group game against Austria in Amsterdam on Thursday night and see for myself whether all of the hype around Oranje is justified this time around. However, just moments after my flight touched down in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, over 2000km from Bucharest and three hours later than scheduled, I was informed that I had been relocated to Hungary for Ukraine’s Thursday encounter with Belarus- two national teams of which, admittedly, I knew very little. This is, of course, all part and parcel of covering international football yet I wished at this moment that I was covering Euro 2000, a tournament which saw its hosting duties so daringly- at the time- shared by neighbouring Belgium and the Netherlands. Alas, wishful thinking: this is Euro 2020. Wired on airport coffee, I had little choice on leaving the airport arrivals area but to head straight into the departures lounge and wait for the flight back out east, this time not to Bucharest but to Budapest, a mere 1400km away.
I filled the intervening time with more airport coffee and trying to read up as much as possible on the two sides I was now to cover. The Netherlands’ 3-0 cruise on Sunday night made one wonder if Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine side is to be one of the tournament’s whipping boys. However, I was another of just how well Ukraine had done in qualifying. They very much deserve to be here. In qualifying, they topped a group containing Portugal, who they held to a goalless draw in Lisbon and defeated 2-1 at home in Kiev. Serbia were there, too, though Ukraine enjoyed a thoroughly delightful night against them in Belgrade, running out 5-0 winners. In their eight games, Shevchenko’s side were undefeated, drawing only twice and racking up seventeen goals along the way. The defence is solid too, conceding just four. Ukrainians will have been keenly awaiting this match against Belarus here in Budapest to show the rest of Europe what Ukraine are really about- now spared the considerable disadvantage of playing against the Netherlands in the Johan Cruyff Arena!
Jittery and hungry, I arrived in Hungary. Budapest looked calm and collected in the afternoon heat though tournament football was certainly in the air. There was no longer any sign of Sunday’s victors Austria- they had by now all moved on, as I too had, to Amsterdam- but the Belarussians, having set up base in the city, looked right at home. I also soon had my first sights of the Ukraine yellow- it would be difficult to miss- mostly on burly-looking men in clusters around the city, enjoying the Hungarian tipples. UEFA’s Euro 2020 entertainment occupied the majority of Vörösmarty Square- I am fairly sure it was Fulham legend Zoltán Gera who I saw doing keepy-ups with a dog on a Volkswagen-endorsed bouncy castle and whilst it may be pushing it to say that Ukrainians and Belarussians were mingling, it is certainly fair to say they stood around in what appeared relative harmony- just as the two countries are bound to do permanently given that they share a 891km-long border. I also lost count of how many times I heard I Feel Football / Football Feels Life and yet I somehow reached a stage where I found myself inclined to join in with the visitors and locals alike who seemed to have an insatiable appetite for it with and joined in with each rendition with more and more gusto. It must be Euro 2020 roadshow delirium.
Anyway, to the football. A much-needed sleep and a soothing thermal bath later, I made my way to the mightily impressive Puscas Ferenc Stadion. From the outside this shimmering silver bowl of a stadium may look like a UFO plonked in the middle of one of the city’s many parks but from the inside, with each of its 68,000 seats occupied in a sea of Ukranian yellow and Belarussian red and green, there can be no mistaking that this a wonderful arena in which to watch a game of football.
Ukraine started on the front foot against Belarus, a side with little to lose and sure to welcome the underdog status. There is of course no doubting this underdog status given the fact Belarus passed through the four play-off matches with four goalless draws and triumphing only thanks to penalty shootouts. At this tournament, of course, if you are defeated in your first match then there is little hope of progress if you follow that up with goalless draws. Belarus would have to win- and that means scoring at some stage- either this game or the final game against the Netherlands to stand any chance of defeating the odds and advancing through to the knockout rounds.
The underdogs had their work even more cut out just six minutes in when Ukraine’s Isreali-born forward Viktor Tsygankov combined smartly with a one-metre one-two with Yevhen Konoplyanka on the edge of the Belarussian box before sliding the ball with real precision into the bottom corner to put the Ukranians ahead. It was a goal that was both intricate and clinical and dashed further any Belarussian hopes of an upset. The yellow sections of the stadium rejoiced.
The following twenty minutes saw Ukraine continue to pin Belarus back: five corners, eight shots, 80% possession of the ball and a well-taken finish for Konoplyanka correctly disallowed for a handball in the buildup meant it was all Ukraine. It had been a surprise that there was still only one goal between the sides but Ukraine got their rewards on the half-hour mark when Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian-born forward Marlos doubled the lead. There was nothing remarkable about the finish itself, tapped home on the goalline after Belarussian goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor could do little but parry Ruslan Malinovskiy’s low drive, but it was the fact that the Belarus team had gone a full two minutes without touching the ball that made one confident that this game was put to bed whilst also concerned for just how bad this could get for the team in red and green.
The half-time interval saw Belarus change from a 4-4-1-1 to a sort of 5-4-1 but ultimately the game continued in much the same vein. Ukraine held onto the ball, shot at goal and refused to share it with Belarus.
Up until Ukraine’s third goal the most notable thing that happened was a moment of utter stupidity from Ukraine midfielder Taras Stepanenko. Firstly, it was a needless late lunge on the Belarus midfielder Stanislav Dragun who, to be quite honest, did not look like he was moving anywhere particularly purposefully, anyway. The rage from Stepanenko that followed when the referee brought out the warranted yellow card was matched only by the perplexity on the faces of thousands within the stadium- Ukranian and Belarussians alike. Stepanenko, first shouting at the referee close enough to count the referee’s eyelashes, then burst into a kind of absurd laughter, before picking up the ball which Belarus had lined up for the following free-kick and in what in some quarters of playground culture would be described as wellying the ball as far into the air as he could and (quite impressively) almost clearing the roof of the Puskas stadium. The referee did not even bother to book the Shakhtar Donetsk man and simply reached for the red card. The Ukranian players took charge of guiding him off the pitch.
Being reduced to ten men against an already exhausted and sunburnt Belarus side did little to change the flow of the game, except for maybe slowing it down a few knots. A third goal was to come Ukraine’s way in the 84th minute thanks again to the skill of Tsygankov. This time it was a marauding dribble forwards, starting from just in front of the Belarus dugout, which culminated in his second goal of the afternoon. This second goal saw the dribble near the corner of the penalty area, at which point he cut quickly inside and wrapped his left foot around the ball to send it once again into the far corner, well out of the reach of Gutor.
Tsygankov, the diminutive red-haired wonderkid, who cuts in from the right flank and time and time again works the ball onto his gifted left foot, has lit up the Ukranian league since he burst onto the scene in the 2016/17 campaign, finding the net 54 times in his first 112 outings. His style brings to mind- let’s say it- Lionel Messi and both of his finishes could have been straight from the Argentine’s top drawer. AS Roma, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur have all been rumoured to have been close to a deal of late but if they dither any longer then it could well be that performances like today’s mean that he ends up not at these ambitious clubs but rather at one of Europe’s creme-de-la-creme.
However, the day was to reward something to the Belarussian supporters, who had remained lively and upbeat throughout. Despite having the unenviable task of playing alone up front, young substitute Evgeni Shevchenko, having only been brought on 10 minutes earlier, pounced on a sloppy back-pass from Ukranian Mykola Matvienko who, standing on the halfway line was in no place to make amends for his error. Shevchenko had the speed of thought to pounce and intercepted the ball long before it reached the tentative arrival of goalkeeper Andrii Pyatov. He took one touch before pulling off a perfectly executed chip over the stranded goalkeeper. Whilst ‘the dink’ may normally be considered the prize of those fortunate enough to be cruising ahead, there was also great beauty in this: a consolation goal scored with the highest of quality and celebrated with all the joy of a significant goal. Belarus had scored!
The remaining few minutes passed by without incident. On the full-time whistle both teams embraced, both content at what they had been able to offer to their travelling support as well as those watching on televisions back home. Belarus, unsurprisingly, are out. They will have it no easier against the Netherlands on Monday. But to the other teams who consider themselves frontrunners in this tournament, there is one clear message from today: underestimate Ukraine at your peril.
Man of the Match: Viktor Tsygankov
Attendance: 64,476