Ukraine seek '09 repeat against England

Two years after the nations contested the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final, Ukraine are striving for a repeat victory against England in Herning to kick-start their Group B campaign.

Goals from Denys Garmash – one of three players in the current Under-21 squad who started that final in Kyiv – and Dmytro Korkishko were enough for Ukraine to claim a first European crown at any level in summer 2009. Five of England's starting XI are also on duty in Denmark, including Danny Welbeck who struck a late equaliser to earn Stuart Pearce's side a deserved point against Spain on Sunday.

Ukraine prop up the section after losing 2-1 to the Czech Republic, the defeat exacerbated by the muscle injury suffered by Taras Stepanenko which has ended the captain's involvement in the finals. "Taras is a big loss for us," said coach Pavlo Yakovenko, who has nonetheless welcomed Yevhen Selin back to training after a high temperature kept him out of the opener. Artem Putivtsev is expected to make way, with Yaroslav Rakitskiy potentially coming in for Stepanenko in the holding midfield role.

Yakovenko continued: "After the Czech game, our main thing was to move on and focus on the positives. There will certainly be some changes to our lineup, but that's not necessarily because I was unhappy with someone; maybe some underperformed, but it was our opening game. Our goal for the tournament hasn't changed, we still need to win every match."

A loss will confirm Ukraine's elimination, and Yakovenko knows his side are in for a tough test against the top-ranked team in the finals. "We watched England's game [against Spain] and they're a solid team. England got their tactics right and made the most of their opportunities. They don't score a lot, but don't concede much either. Every team has its weak points and any team can beat any other."

England's late leveller against Spain furthered Pearce's belief that his side can go better than 2009 when they were soundly beaten in the final by Germany. "We're improving and the game enhanced to me that we've got a good chance – it buoyed me up more than anything," he said. "I asked the question how many other nations would have thrown in the towel in the 87th minute when they're losing 1-0 and their opponents were in control of possession? We didn't. We went and got a goal and after that we had another couple of chances to score another."

Like England, Ukraine scored late in their game, Maxym Biliy's 87th-minute strike halving the deficit but ultimately failing to spur a dramatic turnaround after Czech Republic captain Bořek Dočkal's double strike. "I don't think there was a lot in that game," Pearce said. "Credit to the Ukrainians, they finished strongly and pushed on towards the end. They're a good side who put the Dutch out [in the play-offs] and that takes some doing – the Dutch having finished above the Spanish [in their group], so that's football."