Preview & Betting Tip
Poland - Ukraine Another in series of neighbourhood derbies, but this one is between two hosts of the last European Championship. Neither one has excelled at that competition, and not playing the past qualifications seems that has thrown them off stride, so in the beginning of this one, no one really shines. Poles are not so bad, while Ukraine is without a victory in the first three rounds, and the common factor between them is that they both drew against the English. So far have met four times and achieved one victory each and two matches ended in a draw. Begins: 22.03.2013 – 20:45 CET
Poland
After the failure at the EP, Poles got a new coach, which started this qualification quite modestly, although it must be said that the schedule for the first three rounds was tough, so five points achieved is not so bad. They haven’t lost a single match and this is the most important, but they drew twice. They won the always unpleasant away game against Montenegro, won England at home, and have easily beaten Moldavia. This match is of great importance, but the friendly match that was played a month ago against Ireland, doesn’t offer much optimism. They lost 2-0, and Uruguay won them at the end of last year. There are also problems with the absences of players, so there will be no attacker Sobiech, defender Perquis, midfielder Murawski and the defensive midfielder Polanski, because of the showed cards. Poles are very strong at the goalkeeper position, where this time there will be no Fabianski, but there are Szczesny and Tyton. The main fulcrum is still the players that carry this selection for years and that is the trio from Borussia Dortmund, which is available to the selector Fornalik.
Probable lineups Poland: Szczesny – Piszczek, Wasilewski, Glik, Boenisch – Krychowiak, Borysiuk – Blaszczykowski, Obraniak, Mierzejewski – Lewandowski
Ukraine
And Ukrainians too have a new coach, the third one from the end of the European Championship. Blokhin went away, came Bal, who stayed very short, and his last match on the bench was the home defeat from Montenegro in the third qualifying round. Before that, they played a great draw in London against the English, as well as a bad draw against Moldova as guests, while all went bad at the above mentioned defeat from the Montenegrins. They scored just one goal in three matches, and that one at Wembley. From December the coach is Fomenko who apparently has found a winning combination, because in the two friendly matches against Bulgaria and Norway scored two wins without a received goal. It is interesting that now the most representatives come from the ranks of Dnipro, but they are mostly reserves, while in the first team again dominate Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev’s players, led by captain Tymoshchuk from Bayern Munich. For this match from the team will be absent the midfielder Aliev and attacker Milevski, out of those more standard in the national team.
Probable lineups Ukraine: Pyatov – Fedetsky, Kucher, Rakitsky, Shevchuk – Tymoshchuk, Rotan – Yarmolenko, Garmash, Konoplyanka – Devic
Poland – Ukraine Pick
Very interesting match, which is very important to the Poles because they are the hosts and want ascent to the top of the table, and for Ukrainians a defeat in the match is probably a farewell from Brazil. Besides that, it will be difficult for Ukrainians to win, even though they might be able to draw, which doesn’t mean much to them, so we give advantage to the host, with more cautious stake.
Better's Tip: 1
Stake: 4/10
Odd: 2.20
