June 30, (THEWILL) – In another Euro 2020 match that needed to go into extra time for a winner to emerge, a late injury-time or extra-time header from Artem Dovbyk was required to qualify Ukraine for their first-ever tournament quarter-final as they defeated Sweden 2-1 in the final Round of 16 match of the European competition.
Sweden paid the price for their overreliance on resolute defending and not taking their chances to advance play and as a consequence could not find the goals that could have seen them progress to play England in Rome on Saturday and are going to head home instead.
Both teams began the R16 tie cautiously as they sized each other up, making a slow start of the early minutes. It began to pick up the pace after the first 20 minutes and was a proper contest by the time Ukraine took the lead in the 27th minute through Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The Manchester City left back received the ball with gratitude for the good work done by Taras Stepanenko and Andriy Yarmolenko to set him up for the goal and he made no mistake as he was left unmarked to hit a strong volley into the top of the net that Robin Olsen’s outstretched glove could not stop.
The goal brought Sweden out to become more adventurous. Although Swedish forwards of Alexander Isak, Dejan Kulusevski made attempts to level up, the Swedes could not breach the defenses of Ukraine until the closing minutes of the first half.
The youngster Isak, who was finding clear-cut chances hard to come by, laid an inviting pass to Emil Forsberg, and the RB Leipzig left winger, as he did in the group match against Slovakia, provided the goal that levelled the scores through a deflection of his shot. It was his fourth goal of the competition.
The second half saw Sweden and Ukraine scoff the opportunities that opened to inch ahead on the scores but which neither was able to convert as the game ticked towards the end of normal time. The woodwork stopped both sides from scoring with Forsberg unfortunate to have hit the post twice for Sweden.
Extra time was called for when the 90th minute mark met both sides still looking for the extra goal to cut ahead of the 1-1 tie. Yet, the goal that could win it was not forthcoming. The obvious signs of fatigue were showing among the players and it seemed penalty kicks were going to be how the match was decided.
However, there was an ending dramatic twist. In the 100th minute, Marcus Danielson lunged for the ball, and though he got it, he could not help clattering into Artem Beslin in the follow-through. While Beselin limped off, the referee Daniele Orsato, sent off Danielson with a straight red.
The red card worked in Ukraine’s favour and they pressed hard as time wound down. The efforts yielded a goal with only a second left to play. Zinchenko fired in a perfect cross that Artem Dovbyk’s aimed a perfect header at to score and all but ended the fixture.
It meant no penalties were required as a game of exquisite strangeness ended in spectacular style, leaving Ukraine to prepare for a quarter-finals showdown against England in the Italian capital, Rome on Saturday.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
