Fresh off their excellent victory over Belgium, Slovakia are looking for more points and on Friday they play their second group game, this time taking on Ukraine. Their opponents here were pretty poor in the opener, and lost 3-0 to Romania, so there is plenty of work to be done by the Ukrainians, if they want to get out of this group.
Slovakia Form GuideI thought Slovakia were excellent in their opening group game on Monday. Yes, a little fortunate at times, with Belgium having two goals ruled out by VAR, but the way they played, and pressed the Belgians, was great to see. It requires a lot of energy, but they'll come here looking to do the same again.
The big benefit they have here, is that when things don't go right, I'm not sure Slovakia have anywhere near the quality on the break that Belgium showed, I just don't see them tearing Slovakia opening like Belgium managed to, even if that was only a couple of occasions.
Ukraine Form GuideI really fancied Romania to cause an upset and beat Ukraine on Monday, which they did, but even I didn't expect the game to be so one sided and that was all down to the poor display from Ukraine. They struggled in attack, and gave Romania far too much time on the ball, both of those need to be a lot better here.
The group is wide open, the two fancied teams are on 0 points, while the two outsiders have three, and it wouldn't be a huge shock to see every team on three at the end of this weekend's games, though that isn't what I think will happen, it's possible. Ukraine have to be better, at their best this is a game they have a chance to win.
Match PredictionThe problem for me is that we haven't seen the best from Ukraine in a while. I think Slovakia offer great value here. I was considering backing them to win the game, but instead, I will take them on the double chance market to cover a win and a draw. If they're drawing near the end of the game, I don't think they will take risks, and will instead settle for a point, so I will do the same with my betting.
