Match Preview: Ukraine 2-1 North Macedonia Prediction and Betting Tips | Euro 2020

Ukraine – North Macedonia Prediction and Tips for today, June 17, 2021

Ukraine – North Macedonia Match Preview

• Considering seven of the 16 sides that qualified for the second round of Euro 2016 did so after losing at least one group stage match, both Ukraine and North Macedonia will still be hopeful as they look to bounce back from defeats in their Euro 2020 openers. More so for Ukraine (FIFA rank: #24), who are odds-on favourites to make it three competitive H2H wins out of three in this match.
• Nevertheless, their entertaining 3-2 loss to the Netherlands made it six consecutive European Championship defeats for Andriy Shevchenko’s men, a tournament record they share with Yugoslavia (1968-1984). Although they snapped a competition record run of five straight games without scoring, with their last six goals against now all coming after the 50th minute, it was unsurprising to see them concede a late winner.
• Late goals also scuppered North Macedonia (FIFA rank: #62), who were 15 minutes away from claiming a point on their competition debut before fading to a 3-1 defeat against Austria. The third goal in that game was the 700th in the history of the Euros and more action could follow: their last three matches on foreign soil witnessed both teams score and produced over 2.5 goals.
• However, given that all four previous H2Hs witnessed one or both sides fail to score (W1, D1, L2), the first strike in this encounter could prove crucial. Although the ‘Lions’ haven’t lost a match when netting the opener for more than two years (W10, D2), notably, only one of those fixtures – against Germany – was against a side currently holding a better FIFA ranking than theirs.
• Players to watch: Only Shevchenko has scored more goals for Ukraine (48) than Andriy Yarmolenko (41), who netted against the Dutch – his first goalscoring international appearance since 2011 in which he ended up on the losing side (W26, D5)! Meanwhile, 37-year-old Goran Pandev became the competition’s oldest scorer since 2008 when equalising for North Macedonia against Austria.
• Hot stat: Three of the last four goals conceded by North Macedonia were scored by substitutes.