Verdict: Ukraine and Switzerland to draw 1-1
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Switzerland and Ukraine will kick off their 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A campaign this week. The Group 4 encounter between the two sides is scheduled to kick off at 7:45pm on Thursday and will be held at Arena Lviv in Lviv, Ukraine.
Ukraine
Ukraine were in 2018–19 UEFA Nations League B, and they did superbly to win promotion to League A for the 2020-21 campaign. Andriy Shevchenko has been in charge of the national team since 2016, and it was a considerable success for him to get the side promoted to the elite division.
Ukraine picked up nine points from their four matches from Group 1, which also included the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They won three games, lost one, scored five goals and conceded five goals. Ukraine have been drawn in Group 4 for the 2020-21 campaign along with Switzerland, Spain and Germany. Obviously, Spain and Germany are the two strongest teams in the group, but under Shevchenko, the team will be confident.
After all, Ukraine finished at the top of UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying Group B with 20 points from eight matches, three points ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, who are defending European champions, having won the European Championship in 2016. The bottom team in Group 4 will be relegated to UEFA Nations League B, and Ukraine’s primary objective will be to avoid that fate.
Team news
Andriy Yarmolenko is expected to start for Ukraine, and the West Ham United attacker is likely to lead the line, with Gent striker Roman Yaremchuk to partner him in attack.
Switzerland
Switzerland may not be a large country in terms of population, but they are becoming quite the footballing force and have a very strong group of players. Captain Granit Xhaka is an important player at Arsenal, Xherdan Shaqiri has won the Champions League and the Premier League with Liverpool over the past two seasons, and Albian Ajeti has just made the move from West Ham United to Celtic in the summer transfer window. In the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A, Vladimir Petkovic’s side won Group 2 with nine points from four matches. The Swiss won three games, lost one match, scored 14 goals, and conceded five goals.
Switzerland qualified for the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, but they lost to Portugal in the semi-finals 3-1. There was no shame in that, though, as Juventus forward and legendary footballer Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick. Moreover, Fernando Santos’s side actually went on to win the competition.
It is not going to be easy for Switzerland to achieve the same level of success this time around, though, as they have Spain and Germany in Group 4, as well as Ukraine. While avoiding relegation to League B will be their main target, the Swiss will draw confidence from the way they qualified for the Euro 2020 finals. Switzerland finished top of Group D with 17 points from eight matches, ahead of Denmark, the Republic of Ireland, Georgia and Gibraltar to make it through to the the European Championship finals, which will actually take place in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic this year.
Team news
Shaqiri is not part of the Switzerland squad for September’s fixtures due to an injury.
Key Factors to Consider
Switzerland have not played a game of football since November 2019.
Ukraine last played a football match back in November 2019.
Under Shevchenko, Ukraine have gone 11 matches without defeat.
Conclusion
Switzerland are a very good team and score goals for fun, and they are likely to score in Ukraine. However, the home team are on a 11-game unbeaten run, and playing in familiar surroundings should be enough for them to pick up a point from the encounter on Wednesday evening.
Verdict: Ukraine and Switzerland to draw 1-1
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