Yesterday in Kharkov in the third round of the UEFA League of Nations, the Ukrainian team won the third in a row victory and took the first place in their group ahead of schedule.

From the very beginning of the match, the Ukrainians took the ball under control and actually squeezed rivals in their half of the field.. However, for a long time, the dominance of the owners did not bring results - except that Roman Yaremchuk hit his head dangerously several times.. But the Czechs from time to time conducted dangerous counterattacks.

One of them ended with the release of one-on-one Yakub Yankto, but Andrei Pyatov played great. By the end of the first half, Ruslan Malinovsky started shooting. At first, he didn’t get a bit hit from a distance, but in the 43rd minute he performed perfectly after Yaremchuk’s discount..

In the second half, the guests stepped up, regularly went ahead with large forces. And the Ukrainians had to show how they are able to defend and counterattack positionally. Two attacks of the hosts could be effective, but Andrei Yarmolenko and Viktor Tsygankov did not implement one-on-one outs. In the end blue and yellow skillfully dried up the game and brought it to victory.

Although Malinovsky scored a magnificent goal, while the blue-yellow attack group demonstrated the top level more than once, Rakitsky was probably the best on the field.. He not only played well in defense (which only the interception cost in the end), but also brilliantly launched attacks. Several of his diagonals on Alexander Karavaeva brought simply aesthetic pleasure..

The Czechs learned the lesson well after a home defeat from blue and yellow, when they gave their rivals too much space and allowed them to create an incredible amount of points.. This time they worked very compactly, so the team of Andrey Shevchenko had to act more creatively.

This was achieved largely due to the mobility of Marlos and Yarmolenko.. The first could shift almost to any zone on the right half of the field, and the second very often left in the middle or under Yaremchuk, actually becoming the second center forward.

As a result, it was with the replay of this couple that the goal of the Ukrainians was born..

Having achieved the desired result, the Shevchenko team won the group ahead of schedule and made it to League A. No matter how the upcoming European qualification is completed, in the next draw of the League of Nations Ukraine will be among the elite - among the top 12 European teams. This goal was declared by the head coach of the blue and yellow - and the team in a brilliant style achieved it..