- Fran Reilly
- Sun, Jun 12 2016
World Champions Germany got their Euro 2016 campaign off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in their Group C clash in Lille.
With Poland winning 1-0 against Northern Ireland earlier in the day, Joachim Low's side knew they would need three points ahead of their meeting with the Poles on Thursday, and goals from Shkodran Mustafi and substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger in injury time gave Germany the desired result.
Germany started the game with ten World Cup winners, with the exception being Jonas Hector. For Ukraine, their first eleven included Serhiy Sydorchuk who hadn't tasted defeated in his 12 internationals to date.
And it was Ukraine who forced the first save of the match with Yevhen Konoplyanka bringing Manuel Neuer to full stretch with a first time, curling effort from outside the box in the fifth minute. The resulting corner came to nothing but it was a warning for Germany that Ukraine weren't just here to make up the numbers.
That said, it was the World Cup winners who took the lead in the 19th minute and it was as straight forward as goals come at any level.
Toni Kroos swung the free-kick from the right-hand side into the penalty area and Mustafi rose highest to glance a header beyond the helpless Andriy Pyatov and into the top corner. It was the defender's first international goal.
Shortly after that, Neuer had to be alert to tip a Yevhen Khacheridi header from a Ukraine corner over the bar, with the Dynamo Kyiv centre-back wearing a look of absolute disbelief after the save.
Real Madrid midfielder Kroos enjoyed reams of space in the opening half hour, dictating much of Germany's play and creating an excellent chance for Sami Khedira. His pinpoint ball over the top was well controlled by Khedira but his left foot shot was excellently blocked by Pyatov.
However, just when Germany looked like they would go on and kill the game, Ukraine suddenly came to life and started attacking the world champions relentlessly, and this almost led to an equaliser in the 37th minute.
Andriy Yarmolenko found himself free on the right-hand side of the German box and he produced a delightful chipped ball to the unmarked, onrushing Yevhen Konoplyanka at the far post. His finish was poor, but it bounced up and hit Boateng awkwardly who was falling backwards.
It looked like it had to cross the line but Boateng, falling the wrong way, managed to clear the ball just as it was on the goal line. Two minutes later and the Yellow-Blue had a goal correctly ruled out for offside.
Vyacheslav Shevchuk then wasted an ideal opportunity just before the half-time interval after finding himself running free down Germany's right side. The Ukrainian skipper put the ball low into the six yard box and saw it cleared for a corner, but he had two teammates unmarked waiting for a pullback on the penalty spot.
The second half was largely dominated by Germany as Ukraine began to run out of steam following their strong finish to the opening 45 minutes. Julian Draxler had the first shot after the restart, forcing a full stretch save from Pyatov. Then Kroos fired over from 30 yards after lengthy build-up play by the Germans.
Yaroslav Rakitskiy's did bring another save out of Neuer, as his long range free-kick was tipped around the post by the Bayern stopper.
That was a rare moment of respite for Ukraine as Germany retained plenty of possession, with another long move ending with Draxler teeing up Khedira whose fierce strike was beaten away from the top corner by Pyatov, who did much to keep his side in the game throughout.
Draxler put a header over in the 68th minute and seven minutes later, Germany broke at pace after a rare Ukraine foray forward. Khedira galloped clear in possession with acres of space ahead of him before giving it to Gotze. He in turn teed up Bayern teammate Muller for a shot at goal. Pyatov saved again.
The Ukraine keeper then made another excellent stop when one-on-one with Ozil and immediately almost set up an unlikely equalizer. Pyatov's long clearance upfield bounced and Mustafi tried to head it back to Neuer from 30 yards. The problem was Neuer had already come outside his box to deal with it.
So Mustafi headed the ball over his own 'keeper's head and Boateng had to be quick to beat a lurking Ukrainian player to the ball to clear the danger – Neuer helped him out by gently nudging the chasing Yevhen Seleznyov to the ground.
And then, at the death, Germany countered and Ozil teed up substitute Schweinsteiger at the back post to secure the three points.
Germany: Manuel Neuer; Benedikt Howedes, Jerome Boateng, Shkodran Mustafi, Jonas Hector; Thomas Muller, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler; Mario Gotze (Bastian Schweinsteiger, 89).
Subs not used: Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK), Bernd Leno (GK), Emre Can, Mario Gomez, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich, Lukas Podolski, Antonio Rudiger, Leroy Sané, Andre Schurrle, Julian Weigl.
Yellow Cards: None.
Ukraine: Andriy Pyatov; Artem Fedetskiy, Yevhen Khacheridi, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Vyacheslav Shevchuk; Yevhen Konoplyanka, Viktor Kovalenko (Oleksandr Zinchenko, 74), Taras Stepanenko, Serhiy Sydorchuk, Andriy Yarmolenko; Roman Zozulya (Yevhen Seleznyov, 66).
Subs not used: Denys Boyko (GK), Mykyta Shevchenko (GK), Pylyp Budkivskiy. Bohdan Butko, Mykhaylo Fomenko, Denys Garmash, Oleksandr Karavaev. Oleksandr Kucher, Ruslan Roton, Serhiy Rybalka, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.
Yellow Cards: Konoplyanka (67).
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG).
Attendance: 43,035.
Extratime Man of the Match: Toni Kroos (Germany).
