Euro 2016 participants Ukraine and Iceland will face each other in the opening game of their respective 2018 FIFA World Cup UEFA qualifying tournament first round campaigns. The match will be held at the former's home field of Olympic Stadium in Kiev on Sep. 5, Monday.
Start Time and Streaming Info
The game starts at 9:45 p.m. UTC+3. It can be viewed live online thru FuboTV.
Ukraine finished their stint in this summer's European Championship on a low note as they failed to advance in the knockout stages of the said competitions with zero wins and three losses to Germany, Poland, and Northern Ireland in Group C.
Their last game was a 0-1 loss to Poland at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on June 21, as per The Guardian, and head coach Andriy Shevchenko's had never got together to play a single match since then even in friendlies.
Even with enough preparation, however, the Yellow-Blue is not expected to land the top two spots in Group I of the qualifiers as the team is alongside powerhouse squads Croatia, Iceland, and Turkey in the bracket. Finland and Kosovo are the weaker teams in the group that they have a chance of beating.
Meanwhile, Iceland surprised England in the last Euros with a 2-1 win against the Three Lions in the Round-of-16 stage of the said tourney.
However, head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson's boys were eventually eliminated by Euro hosts France in the quarterfinals, 2-5, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on July 3, which was the national squad's last game together, via USA Today.
Strákarnir okkar will continue to be the dark horses in the opening round of qualifiers and could potentially earn the top spot of Group I if Croatia will have lackluster performances. Only the first-place team at the end of the first round will automatically qualify in the 2018 World Cup in Russia while the runner-ups will advance to the second round of qualifiers next year.
This match between Ukraine and Iceland will be played without spectators as the former was sanctioned by FIFA to play one home game audience-less following racist behavior from their home crown during the team's 2014 World Cup qualifying match against San Marino.
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a tough 2-1 victory for Iceland.
Ukraine starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Pyatov; Fedetskiy, Rakitskiy, Kucher, Butko; Stepanenko, Rotan; Yarmolenko, Zinchenko, Konoplyanka; Zozulya
Iceland starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Halldorsson; Saevarsson, Arnason, R. Sigurdsson, Skulason; Gudmundsson, Gunnarsson, G. Sigurdsson, Bjarnason; Sigborsson, Bodvarsson