Euro 2020: fatigue a major factor as England battle tiring Ukraine for semi-final spot

Gareth Southgate's team have clear advantage after their quarter-final opponents were pushed to their limits by Sweden

Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring England's opening goal in their 2-0 Euro 2020 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, June 29. EPA

England attacker Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring in the last-16 match at Wembley. AFP

Raheem Sterling scores to put England 1-0 up against Germany. EPA

Harry Kane and Declan Rice celebrate after the match. Getty

Harry Kane celebrates scoring England's second goal. AP

England manager Gareth Southgate celebrates after the second goal. Getty

England captain Harry Kane heads home the second goal. Getty

Thomas Muller misses a glorious chance to score for Germany. EPA

Substitute Jack Grealish, left, is congratulated after setting up England's second goal. Reuters

England manager Gareth Southgate gives instructions to Jack Grealish. EPA

After the euphoria at London, gifts from Glasgow for the England team. No sooner had they had settled themselves after the landmark victory over Germany, they were assessing, live on television, the next obstacle in their path to a possible Euro 2020 semi-final.

They will be quietly pleased at aspects of what they saw and with how long this particular scouting session lasted. Ukraine and Sweden needed a full two hours to establish who would play England next, in Rome this weekend. The more England’s players waited to find out which of Ukraine or Sweden would emerge from the last-16 tie at Hampden Park in Scotland, the better they felt.

Fatigue is the great foe in this haphazardly structured tournament, and it has contributed to some wild, error-strewn, goal-heavy evenings so far in the knockout phase. Ukraine versus Sweden was a crossbar and two goalposts away from becoming another. Within 13 second-half minutes, Sweden’s Emil Forsberg saw two efforts come back off the frame of the Ukraine goal, and Serhiy Sydorchuk thundered a shot off the outside of the Sweden post. A difference of centimetres prevented 1-1 from turning into 3-2.

A difference of barely three minutes kept the contest from going to penalties, the scoreline in a frantic, gripping match kept at 1-1 until stoppage time of extra-time. The winner was desperately cruel on Sweden, by then down to 10 men, but well engineered. A fine cross from Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko made it, the vigour of Artem Dovbyk doing justice to the service.

It was 24-year-old Dobvyk’s first international, 14 minutes into his third cap. He was the fifth of six substitutes used by head coach Andriy Shevchenko, who can claim plaudits for his tactical decisions ahead of, and during, a taxing game, but would acknowledge that nobody could plan for much of what happened in Glasgow.

Sweden had defender Marcus Danielson sent off, for a horrible challenge - unintended to harm, and he reached the ball before the collision - on Artem Besyedin in the ninth minute of extra-time. Besyedin was distraught and in evident agony. His championship looks to be over.

Besyedin, a forward, had come on to the field only 11 minutes earlier. Five minutes after he was carried to the dressing room, on the shoulders of medical staff, ice strapped to below his knee, the Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko limped off the pitch, a substitution overdue. Yarmolenko, who set up Zinchenko’s first-half goal, had been visibly tiring. At his exit, he was hobbling.

That was not all. The sixth of Shevchenko’s substitutes, Roman Bezus had been on the field barely two minutes when he was writhing around the Sweden penalty area after an aerial challenge. No foul was called, but Bezus was in clear pain from what looked like a dislocated shoulder.

It would be a hard-hearted spectator who saw Besyedin’s agony without huge sympathy. But as England’s footballers watched the coverage of the Glasgow game deep into Tuesday night, they knew their next opponents were having their stamina sapped with each minute, and in some cases, their fitness for Saturday’s quarter-final compromised.

The clear advantage in Rome is with England, who have just welcomed two players, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount, back into full training after they had to self-isolate ahead of the Germany fixture because of previous exposure to a club colleague, Scotland’s Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for coronavirus. Besides, England already have an envied strength in depth. “You look at their bench and it’s probably valued at three times more than the entire Ukraine team,” remarked Shevchenko.

The Ukraine head coach’s priorities on Wednesday were focused on his injury list, and how to recuperate from the bruises and exhaustion brought on by their exhilarating achievement. At Hampden, Ukraine made history, into the quarter-finals of a major tournament for only the second time, but the endeavour has left them drained.

“We have to try to regather our strength,” said Shevchenko. “Artem Besyedin has a serious injury, and we hope any ligament damage is minimal, but there are others too.” Yarmolenko, Bezus and defender Serhiy Kryvtsov, who was brought in against Sweden to facilitate a switch to a back-three, will all be monitored for the impact of injuries they sustained in Glasgow.

England’s coaching staff will listen in on Ukraine’s medical bulletins with interest. Their path to the final, after the 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley, looked blessed even before Ukraine’s long night.

Ukraine, who scraped into the knockouts after two group-phase defeats, are ranked 24th in the world by Fifa. England are fourth, and yet to concede a goal at Euro 2020. And whoever wins in Rome will go to Wembley to play Denmark - 10th - or the Czech Republic - 40th - for a place in the final in London.