LAST 16
Italy 1-0 Ukraine
Bonucci 85'
Eamonn Foster
Wembley Stadium, London, England
Saturday 27th June
For the first time in this tournament, in which Wembley Stadium has been awarded the highest importance, hosting seven matches, we had a match here which refreshingly had nothing to do with the England national team. Instead the visitors today were Italy and Ukraine and, based on their form so far in this Euro 2020, there was a sense amongst many that it would be an extremely tightly contested match- and so it proved.
Two of the standout forwards of the tournament so far, little known outside their own countries two weeks ago, came up against one another today at Wembley. Viktor Tsygankov, the baby-faced captain of Dynamo Kiev- though surely for not much longer as some of Europe’s biggest clubs will inevitably come knocking- inspired his Ukranian side to victory in their group games against Austria and Belarus and has given neutral observers a unique talisman to cherish in the Ukranian side. Meanwhile Fiorentina’s Federico Chiesa, who began the tournament so prolifically that he could even be rested in the final group match, qualification for the knockouts assured following his four goals in the opening two matches, is the Italian answer to Tsygankov.
For the Italians this was the first true taste of this novel pan-continent tournament format, having had the comfort of playing their group games in Rome. The travelling Italian support has revelled in the opportunity to play the guests this time around however and London has been buzzing with tens of thousands of confident and spirited Italians who for the last couple of days have draped the famous ‘Tricolore’ flag across seemingly every public monument across the English capital.
In fact, it could turn out to be a rather pricey couple of weeks for the travelling Italians should they continue this winning form. Munich is their next destination to which they must all make their way, where on Friday a relatively ‘easy’ clash with either Russia or Sweden awaits, before London once again comes into play as the host city for both the semi-finals and the final. Whether they will make it that far remains to be seen, but it would not be a great surprise to see the Italians back in London in ten days’ time.
Now to the events in this evening’s match. It was not, being totally honest, the most enthralling contest for the neutral viewer. For the first fifteen minutes the Italians controlled the ball without going anywhere in particular, though it did have the effect of deflating somewhat the pre-match promise of Ukraine coach and AC Milan legend Andriy Shevchenko that his team would come out all guns blazing (or something to that effect in Ukrainian). The team in yellow struggled to touch the ball in the opening stages as their little red-haired winger Tsygankov scurried around trying to touch the ball like a frustrated little wasp trying to pass through a window pane. After all of the hype around him in the buildup to the match the first quarter of an hour made one wonder if perhaps he wasn’t even going to get a touch, never mind be the game’s hero. His equally-lauded and in-form counterpart, Chiesa, saw much more of the ball and, visibly refreshed from not playing a match in ten days, gave early signs that he could do the Ukrainians real damage.
It took a forceful tackle in the twentieth minute from Taras Stepanenko to spark the Ukrainians into life. The central midfielder, reinstated to the team after serving his suspension for his stupidity against Belarus in Bucharest, tread a fine line between enthusiastic and dangerous as he lunged in on Nicolò Barella after a slightly underhit pass from Chelsea’s Jorginho. As Barella writhed around in apparent agony on the Wembley turf the indignant Ukranians protested that he had every right to challenge for the ball- and he did- but Stepanenko was very fortunate that the reaction of the Italian player, coupled with his own reputation for reckless play, did not earn him a more severe punishment than a ticking-off from Finnish referee Mattias Gestranius.
Whilst the Italians were incensed that Stepanenko remained on the pitch, the tackle did have the effect of energizing the Ukraine side and moments later it was the Ukranians who almost took the lead when neat link-up on the touchline between Tsygankov and midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka led to the latter teasingly squaring the ball into the so-called ‘corridor of uncertainty’ between the edge of the six-yard area and the goalkeeper’s line. And uncertainty it certainly did force on the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who hesitated and stayed planted on his line. The decision could have been costly had it been for a stronger connection with the cross from Roman Yaremchuk, who slid in determinedly but could not quite use his momentum to generate enough force to beat the Italian goalkeeper. It was to be one of few real opportunities for Shevchenko’s side.
The remainder of the first half saw three yellow cards, one of which was awarded to Marco Verratti for a truly bizarre handball where upon realizing a pass from his teammate Christiano Beraghi was too high for him and going out for a throw-in he simply jumped and smacked the ball away down the touchline with his fist. His appeals that he thought he was already past the touchline and therefore out of play when he punched the ball away were rightly dismissed by the Finnish referee.
The best chance of the first half fell to Italy from a corner. After needing the referee’s intervention to point out that the level of shirt-pulling from both sides on set pieces was quite frankly ridiculous, a retaken corner by Barella fell to the forehead of the wily old Giorgio Chiellini, whose connection was powerful enough to beat the goalkeeper but not the crossbar. The ball bounced back and the ball was booted to safety and Ukraine regrouped, relieved.
When the second half commenced Italy continued to have the lion’s share of the chances, and Chiesa enjoyed his best spell in the match, always showing for the ball and carrying it forward in a purposeful manner that brought to mind a young Steve McManaman. The Ukrainian defence did what they could to keep him from getting too close to goal, however, and they largely succeeded as on most occasions Chiesa could not quite find the final ball.
Italy were to get their best opportunity to take the lead an hour into the match. It was Italy’s fourth corner of the match and the grappling between Chiellini and Mykola Matvienko was deemed unacceptable by the referee who did not delay in pointing to the penalty spot and dishing out yet another telling-off to the Ukrainian players. Today the struggling Ciro Immobile was excused from the pressure of having to take or not take the penalty, with a rather undercooked Kevin Lasagne having been preferred to him today, and as such there was no doubt that Jorginho, Mr Reliable when it comes to taking penalties, would take the spot kick and put Italy a goal ahead. However, today Mr Reliable faltered and his weak penalty towards the bottom left-hand corner was parried away by Andriy Pyatov in the Ukrainian goal. The Italians were shocked.
The chance for Ukraine to steal a win from the Italians arose from a moment of magic from the boy wonder Tsygankov in the 78th minute. Receiving a weighty forward pass from Andriy Yarmolenko with his back to the Italian goal, Tsygankov had the speed of thought to let the ball run through his legs as he spun to his right and left Chiellini flat-footed and feeling his age. Whilst Chiellini would normally be pragmatic enough to at least block the run of the young winger at the expense of an inevitable yellow card, this movement was so instantaneous that he was left with no time to react. Running onto the ball behind the Italian back line, Tsygankov brought the ball inside onto his left foot as he reached the edge of the box and Ukrainians began dreaming of glory. Donnarumma this time was quick off his line and forced Tsygankov to act quickly, which he did, stabbing the ball past the goalkeeper’s outstretched palm and it looked for all the world like it was on its way to the back of the net. However, the ball bobbled slightly to the left off its first bounce and it hit the inside of the post before a desperate backtracking Leonardo Bonucci was able to clear the ball to safety.
Bonucci’s role in this play, however, was not limited to keeping the Ukrainians at bay. With five minutes left on the clock, and just after a three-minute spell which saw Italy take four corners, a free-kick from just outside the box was curled in by Jorginho. This time Italy found the breakthrough. Both Bonera and Chiellini rose to meet the ball, both outjumping their Ukrainian markers, and on this occasion it was Bonucci who connected and headed it, to the sheer delight of the Italians, into the roof of the Ukrainian net.
To desperately need a goal against a typically, exasperatingly calm Italian defence is not what even the most self-confident sides would wish for. And so it was that for the remainder of the game, Ukraine huffed and puffed and tried to pin the Italian defence back but the Italians were not to be moved. They barely allowed the Ukrainians to set foot in their penalty area. This was no time to concede for the first time in this tournament. When one final shot from range from Oleksandr Zinchenko flew well over the crossbar the referee called time. Italy now go to Munich, with belief growing that this side could have what it takes to be victorious in these championships. Ukraine, on the other hand, go home. But they can do so with their heads held high, having shown Europe that there is much more colour to their game than many of us tend to suppose.
Man of the Match: Leonardo Bonucci
Attendance: 87,742