- Ukraine defeated Iceland 2-1 in the playoff Path B match on Tuesday night at Stadion Miejski Wroclaw in Poland, coming from behind to qualify for Euro 2024.
- Albert Gudmundsson scored a fantastic first goal to put the visitors up at the interval.
- Ukraine heroically battled back in the second half, with Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk scoring a thrilling victory in the 84th minute.
Ukraine defeated Iceland 2-1 in the playoff Path B match on Tuesday night at Stadion Miejski Wroclaw in Poland, coming from behind to qualify for Euro 2024.
Halfway through the half, Albert Gudmundsson, who scored a hat-trick in Iceland’s 4-1 victory against Israel the previous weekend, scored a fantastic first goal to put the visitors up at the interval.
Nevertheless, Ukraine heroically battled back in the second half, with Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk scoring a thrilling victory in the 84th minute after Viktor Tsyhankov equalized in the 54th.
The team led by Serhiy Rebrov has successfully qualified for their fourth straight European Championships. They will compete in Group E this summer with Slovakia, Belgium, and Romania, with their first match against the latter scheduled for June 17.
Ukraine vs Iceland. Photo/ Dynamo kiev
Ukraine had a strong start to the match in front of more than 30,000 boisterous supporters, but they were unable to generate any clear-cut opportunities as all three of their attempts inside the first 25 minutes went wide.
In order to have an impact in the last third, Iceland depended on counterattacks. Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson came dangerously close to opening the score with a test shot that was heading toward the far corner, but Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made a great save to preserve the score tied.
But, the half-hour mark saw the visitors finally take the lead in spectacular manner as Gudmundsson dribbled past a number of Ukraine defenders to take up a central position on the perimeter of the field before finishing with precision in the bottom-right corner.
Ukraine reacted strongly, and in the 39th minute, they appeared to have equalized when Hakon Valdimarsson made an incredible stop to deny Heorhiy Sudakov’s thunderous shot. However, VAR called Roman Yaremchuk offside after he slotted the ball into the net.
Ukraine needed to pull off another second-half comeback, similar to their 2-1 victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina last weekend, when they scored twice in the closing five minutes to set up their match against Iceland on Tuesday. This was necessary if they were to advance to Euro 2024.
Rebrov’s halftime team talk undoubtedly had the desired effect, as his Ukraine squad quickly rebounded from the break and equalized nine minutes later with a superb left-footed shot from the edge of the box that Tsyhankov curled into the far corner.
For the last thirty minutes of play, both teams made a change: Oleksandr Zinchenko of Arsenal replaced Ruslan Malinovskyi for Ukraine, and Orri Oskarsson and Kolbeinn Finnsson of Iceland came in for Andri Gudjohnsen and Gudmundur Thorarinsson.
In the last moments, Ukraine appeared to have the best chance of winning; Yaremchuk missed a close-range right-footed attempt with agony, while Sudakov’s attempt into the top-right corner was stopped by Thorsteinsson.
Ukraine qualified for the Euro 2024 tournament. Photo/ Reuters
However, Iceland remained a danger while counterattacking and came close to taking the lead when Thorsteinsson cut inside and moved the ball to his right foot, only to see Lunin’s hands perfectly stop his effort that was heading for the top corner.
But in the last third, Ukraine had the better of the match, and six minutes from the end, Mudryk scored his country’s first goal of the match with his right foot, curling it into the lower left corner from around 20 yards away.
After making their debut in 2016, Age Hareide’s team failed to qualify for just their second European Championships because Iceland was unable to rally in the final minutes.
Ukraine, who have already won 14 of their previous 20 Euro qualifiers, managed to win a playoff match on their third try, having lost at this stage in 2000 and 2016, to guarantee their place in this summer’s competition in Germany.
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