Ukraine continued their preparations for the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament as a 4-0 hammering of Estonia extended their recent unbeaten run to six matches. Scans confirm Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen has a hamstring strain, Kyriakos Papadopoulos is back in training for Greece, while reports suggest Slaven Bilic is already planning his side for Croatia’s clash with the Republic of Ireland:
Ukraine 4 Estonia 0
Oleg Blokhin’s co-hosts continued their recent good form last night, with Andriy Yarmolenko again impressing. According to the ESPN site, Yarmolenko lined up on the right and opened the scoring with his fourth goal in the last six matches; he also picked up an assist for a converted spot-kick after being fouled in the box – Oleg Husiev was the man who slotted home. Priced at 7.0, Yarmolenko is the most popular Ukraine player in the McDonald’s game and after last night’s 45 minute display, he’s likely to pick up further suitors prior to the tournament kicking off. Andriy Voronin was also handed a start in a second striker role and also found the net before being subbed off at half time, while Andriy Shevchenko – on as a second half sub – set up Artem Milevskyi for the Ukraine’s fourth. With so much uncertainty surrounding the goalkeeper position, Fantasy managers will be disappointed to see Andriy Pyatov take his place between the posts; he comes in at 5.0, a full 1.0 more than the other two contenders, Maxym Koval and Oleksandr Goryainov.
Ukraine Starting XI: Pyatov; Husiev (Butko 63), Khacheridi, Mikhalik (Rakitskiy 46), Selin; Tymoschuk, Konoplyanka; Yarmolenko(Shevchenko 46), Voronin (Aliev 46), Nazarenko (Seleznyov 54); Devic (Milevskiy 46).
Other News
Dick Advocaat has revealed he is “generally satisfied” with Russia’s preparations ahead of this evening’s friendly against Lithuania. The Dutchman also admitted he was likely to hand a few fringe players an opportunity before calling for a step up in performance after the weekend draw with Uruguay:
During the match with Uruguay we tried various things tactically, especially pressing the opposition. This is something I think we need to improve and will be trying to do so against Lithuania.
The Republic of Ireland’s treatment room continues to be the busiest of any national team right now. Yesterday saw both Paul McShane (ankle) and Darren O’Dea (thigh) nursing injuries, though Giovanni Trapattoni was handed some good news, with Shay Given now fully recovered from a knee problem and John O’Shea also nearing full fitness – the Sunderland man is “90%” likely to feature in a friendly against a local Tuscan side on Wednesday. Trapattoni has already named his starting XI for the game, with some of his fringe players set to be handed a chance to impress:
Westwood; Foley, St Ledger, Dunne, Kelly; Hunt, Gibson, Andrews, Green; Cox, Walters.
Reports in the Croatian press suggest Slaven Bilic has pencilled in his starting line-up for their opening group game against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday June 10. Bilic is quoted as naming the likes of Ivan Strinic at left-back, while Nikica Jelavic is earmarked to lead the line; priced at 4.0 and 5.0 in the McDonald’s game respectively, the pair afford the cheapest of routes into the Croatia squad, with Jelavic’s 32.4% ownership already the second most popular forward in the McDonald’s game thus far.
Domenico Criscito was one of seven players given the chop by Cesare Prandelli yesterday. The Italy boss trimmed a 32 player-squad down to 25, with another couple of players set to depart tomorrow. Criscito had been earmarked by many as a less pricey route into the Italian backline in the McDonald’s game – priced at 6.0, he looked a strong favourite to start at left-back but has been caught up in match-fixing allegations and will instead spend the summer trying to clear his name. Other reports suggest Prandelli has been trialling different variations up front in his preferred 4-3-1-2 formation, with Riccardo Montolivo in “the hole” behind front pair Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli. Priced at 7.0, Montolivo would be sure to leap in our Fantasy estimations if Prandelli decides to hand more offensive role – let’s hope tonight’s game with Luxemburg hands us further insight into the Italy manager’s intentions.
Greece right-back Vassilis Torossidis missed training yesterday after limping out of the weekend draw against Slovenia with a swollen knee. With the final 23 to be announced later on today, Fernando Santos welcomed back Giorgos Fotakis and Kyriakos Papadopoulos to training, with the duo expected to feature in Thursday’s friendly against Armenia. The latter, in particular, has been a firm favourite on the site and, coming in at 4.5 in the McDonald’s game, is owned by 15.9% of Fantasy managers, significantly more than any other player in Santos’ squad.
Dutch boss Bert Van Marwijk has a major selection dilemma on his hands after an MRI scan confirmed Joris Mathijsen has sustained a hamstring strain. The centre-half lasted jump 16 minutes of the 2-1 weekend home defeat to Bulgaria before limping off but had already been named in Van Marwijk’s final 23 prior to kick-off. Holland have now released a statement, saying:
In the coming days we have to wait and see how the injury develops.
