The Ukrainian team U-19 football team reached the semi-finals of the 2024 European Championship, which is taking place in Northern Ireland. In the third match of the group stage, the blue-yellows beat the reigning champions of the tournament, the team Italy with a score of 3:2.
Thanks to the victory over the Italians, Dmitry Mikhailenko’s team scored five points after three matches — In the first two games, the Ukrainians drew against Northern Ireland and Norway.
In addition to reaching the semi-finals of the Junior Euro 2024, the Ukrainian national team guaranteed itself a ticket to the U-20 World Championship, which will take place next year in Chile.
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Ukraine beat Italy at the Junior Euro 2024
Mikhailenko's team opened the scoring in the seventh minute of the match thanks to a goal from Gennady Sinchuk. However, before the break the Italians equalized after an accurate cross Tommaso Ebone.
At the beginning of the second half, the opponents took the lead after a powerful strike by Marco Romano, but after two minutes the blue-yellows restored parity in the game. Daniil Krevchun scored a goal.
Our guys put the final point in the game in the 75th minute. Before that, Christian Corradi fouled Andrei Matkevich, in his own penalty area, for which he received a second yellow and a deletion. And the referee awarded a penalty against the Italians.
The eleven-meter kick was successfully converted by Matvey Ponomarenko, who shot into the lower right corner and brought the Ukrainian team ahead.
In the semi-finals of Junior Euro 2024, the Ukrainian national team will play with the winner of Group B — against France or Spain. The match will take place on July 25.
In addition to Ukraine, Italy and France qualified from Europe for the U-20 World Cup, which will take place in 2025. Also, the second team from Group B (Spain or Turkey) and the winner of the head-to-head match between teams from Groups A and B that took third place will go to the tournament.
Note that Ukraine will play at the FIFA Youth World Cup for the fifth time in history. The last time the Ukrainians participated in the World Cup among U-20 teams, they became world champions.
