Prediction Euro Champ Qualifying - Ukraine vs Iceland

Euro Champ Qualifying - Ukraine vs Iceland
Match Time: 27-03-2024 03:45 Wednesday (GMT+8)
Football Livescore | Match Prediction & Tips
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Ukraine

With 10 minutes of normal time to go in Ukraine's showdown with Bosnia, the Blue and Yellow were on the brink of playoff heartache thanks to Mykola Matvienko's unfortunate own goal, but the defender's blushes were spared thanks to the Roman Yaremchuk show.

The Valencia forward - overlooked for a starting role - equalised for Ukraine in the 85th minute before turning provider for Girona hotshot Artem Dovbyk to head home the winner in the 88th minute, thereby keeping Ukraine's qualification hopes alive in remarkable circumstances.

Forced to go through 180 minutes of playoff action owing to their third-placed finish in Group C, albeit only behind Euro 2020 finalists England and Italy, Ukraine will be present at the continental finals for the fourth time on the bounce should they come up trumps on Tuesday, in their adopted home of Wroclaw.

Rebrov's men arrive for the Path B final in both good spirits and good form, having earned their third win from four matches with their praiseworthy comeback triumph over Bosnia, and their only two losses from their last 12 games in all tournaments have come to Italy and England.

While the Blue and Yellow are not taking to the field in their war-torn nation on Tuesday, they have strung together an eye-catching nine-game unbeaten run in 'home' Euros qualifiers since a 1-0 loss to Spain in October 2015 and have not conceded multiple goals in such a game since a 2-2 draw with France in November 2007.

Iceland

Those aforementioned statistics suggest that an Iceland side lacking Ukraine's continental nous have their work cut out to return to Europe's top table for 2024, having failed to force their way into the Euro 2020 groups five years on from their historic run to the quarter-finals at the 2016 edition.

As was the case with upcoming opponents Ukraine, Iceland also had to fight back from a one-goal deficit in their semi-final with Israel, who went ahead courtesy of an Eran Zahavi spot kick, only to fall victim to an exceptional individual showing from Genoa hotshot Albert Gudmundsson.

Amid reports of interest from Tottenham Hotspur, the 26-year-old added a few more pounds to his value with a remarkable hat-trick alongside an additional strike from Arnor Ingvi Traustason, while a missed second-half penalty for Zahavi capped off Israel's catastrophic collapse.

With friendly wins over Honduras and Guatemala also under their belt from January's friendlies, Our Boys could now triumph in four successive games for the first time since October 2014, and doing so would earn them a place in Euro 2024 Group E with Belgium, Slovakia and Romania.

The visitors - now under the wing of Age Hareide - are no stranger to successes over Ukraine either, clinching a 2-0 victory in September 2017 during a 2018 World Cup qualifier, while two of the other three meetings between the Group E hopefuls have ended all square.

Prediction: Ukraine 3-1 Iceland