Ukraine was handed a tough group for Euro 2012 in the draw Dec. 2 and will rely on home-crowd support to carry it past favorites England, France and Sweden.
The blue and yellows will kick off their tournament against Sweden in Kyiv on June 11, followed by games against France and England in Donetsk on June 15 and June 19.
France and England are favorites in Group D.
“If we start with a win over the Swedes, it will probably make things easier for us in the games afterward,” said Ukraine’s head coach Oleh Blokhin after the draw.
Ukraine took a 1-0 victory in 2009 against top-seeded England, but has lost to both Sweden and France in friendlies in recent months.
“Ukraine has one of the toughest, most unpredictable groups,” said Yuriy Syomin, head coach of Dynamo Kyiv. “At the moment I don’t see England and France as having superiority in the group. Although there are first-class footballers in both teams, they are still building their teams.”
Tournament co-host Poland had a much kinder draw, and will face Russia, Greece and the Czech Republic.
The draw could have been much worse for Ukraine. It avoided the “group of death,” which includes soccer powerhouses Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The games in this group will be played in Lviv and Kharkiv, which will put a strain on these cities, given the huge number of fans that follow Germany and the Netherlands in particular.
