Sports Mole previews Sunday’s European Under-17s Championship clash between Ukraine Under-17s and Cyprus Under-17s, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Ukraine Under-17s and Cyprus Under-17s will both be playing for pride when they face off at the AEK Arena on Sunday.
The two sides have already been eliminated from the European Under-17 Championship after losing both of their opening two matches.
Match preview
Ukraine’s wait for their first knockout round appearance will go on after they were knocked out of the tournament with a game to play.
In their first European Under-17 Championship appearance since 2017, Ukraine began their campaign with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Serbia, before they were swept aside in Thursday’s meeting with the Czech Republic.
Kyrylo Digtyar’s stoppage-time penalty proved to be a mere consolation as the Czech Republic ran out 3-1 winners in Paralimni.
Having failed to take a point from either of their two matches, Ukraine are sitting in third place with six points separating them from the top two in group A.
While they cannot progress any further, they will still be keen to beat Cyprus and claim just their second win in the tournament’s history.
Tournament hosts Cyprus have been unable to make a significant impression in their debut at the European Under-17 Championship.
Their campaign began with a demoralising 5-0 defeat against the Czech Republic, before they fell to a 3-1 loss in Thursday’s clash with Serbia.
Petros Ioannou found the net in the 34th minute to give Cyprus the lead, only to see his opener cancelled out by Mihajlo Cvetkovic in first-half stoppage time.
Serbia moved through the gears after the restart to add two more goals to their tally and condemn Chrysis Michael’s side to a disappointing defeat.
After losing their first two matches, Cyprus have one final chance to collect their first points at European Under-17 Championship before they bid farewell to their home tournament.
Ukraine Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Cyprus Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Team News
Having already been eliminated from the competition, Ukraine boss Yuriy Moroz could be tempted to make a few changes for Sunday’s contest.
Oleksii Rybak, Nazar Bondar and Andre Vakulyuk are pushing for starting spots after featuring as substitutes against the Czech Republic.
As for Cyprus, Gavriil Psilogenis and Chrysis Evangelou could come into the lineup after coming off the bench to play over a half-hour in the defeat to Serbia.
Buoyed by scoring Cyprus’ first goal of the tournament, Petros Ioannou will continue to offer one of his country’s main attacking threats when he leads the line against Ukraine.
Ukraine Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Makarenko; Rybak, Tretiak, Digtyar, Strilchuk; Redushko, Soroka, Vakulyuk; Bondar, Bogdanov, Stepanov
Cyprus Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Panagi; Skafi, Charalampous, K Ioannou, Vasilou; Chatzilefteri, Psilogenis, Michalas; Evangelou, Christodoulou, P Ioannou
We say: Ukraine Under-17s 3-1 Cyprus Under-17s
Although both teams have lost their opening two games, we believe Ukraine’s squad boast the extra quality required to get the better of Cyprus in Sunday’s final group match.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.