Ukraine V France: alignments, statistics and preview

Starting against the second seeds, Ukraine opens a test, even if the party is staging on a neutral ground in Poland.

A victory here would make the BLEUS preferred to reach the group. France has not lost a World Cup since 1994 and has two later titles and two later appearances.

In the meantime, Ukraine has enjoyed the consistency of the European Championship, but remains haunted by the struggles in the classification of the World Cup. They only appeared once in the largest phase of football, reaching the quarterfinals in 2006 and suffered the defeat in three of their last four play-off attempts.

The story is against: Ukraine has only shot France once in 12 meetings, in the first part of the Playoff for the World Cup of 2014, before the Blues nullified the deficit on the return. More recently, France demolished them 7-1 in a 2020 friendly, although the two classifiers of 2022 ended with 1-1.

Team news for Ukraine against France

Proponents Illia Zabarnyi and Vitaliy Mykolenko are closing the milestones for Ukraine, with Zabarnyi reaching 50 appearances and Mykolenko is achieving the same if it is presented in both accessories this week.

Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin is not available due to injury, which means that Anatoliy Trubin will start among the places. Oleksandr Tymchyk is another absent, while Benfica Georgii Sudakov is expected to play a key role in the midfield. Former Artem Dovbyk, who has been out of favor in Rome, will expect an impact.

For France, William Saliba de l’Arsenal is marked with a muscle injury suffered against Liverpool and Rayan Cherki has also retired. Hugo Ekitike has been called to Cherki’s site and could win a first cap, next to Maghnes Akliouche.

Adrien Rabiot is still part of the template despite the controversy that surrounds his departure from Marseille, while Warren Zaire-Emery, Randal Kolo Muani and Matteo Guendouzi have not been selected.