Ukraine vs. England – European Championship, July 3, 2021

This looks like being the most one-sided quarterfinal of the four, with England heavily favored to continue its impressive winning streak with another against Ukraine at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday.

It is England’s first game away from Wembley in this tournament. But Andriy Shevchenko will need to get his tactics spot on if his Ukraine side will make the semifinals. This preview will look at the latest odds and both teams and offer a pick for the England vs. Ukraine Euro 2020 quarterfinal.

Ukraine only won one game in the group stage and looked dead on its feet in the final fixture against Austria. The players looked just as fatigued towards the end of the round of 16 tie against Sweden but snatched victory with just about the last action of the game. Now Shevchenko needs to get them ready in a short space of time for another tough battle.

A lot needs to happen if that is to become a reality, though. The midfield five need to be better than England’s for one – and all the best players need to be fit.

That last point is a major problem for Ukraine, as there are doubts over Andriy Yarmolenko. He has been a focal point upfront throughout the tournament but seemed to be injured in the win over Sweden. If he is not available for this one, Ukraine will do very well to even be in contention.

England has been fortunate that it has been able to play all three group games and a round of 16 fixture against Germany in front of home fans at Wembley. But it has been Gareth Southgate’s much-criticized tactics that have been more important to its success at Euro 2020 so far.

With the attacking talent of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, and Jadon Sancho spending most of their time on the bench, it has been the defensive midfielder partnership of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips that has been a major factor in England not conceding a single goal so far.

Even he scored in the win over Germany, though – and the game plan that has worked so well so far will have to go very wrong if England doesn’t win on Saturday.

Ukraine has been made a huge underdog by BetOnline and is not fancied at all to be able to overcome England in this quarterfinal. Although England has finally had to travel to play a game in this tournament, I’m not sure that will ultimately have too much bearing on this clash.

Ukraine visibly tired against Austria and Sweden and will more than likely contain England in Rome. That means that a lot of responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Zinchenko and Yarmolenko when an attacking chance presents itself. If the latter doesn’t even make the team because of injury, I can’t see how England doesn’t win this.