England looks dominant in 2-0 win over Ukraine: Three takeaways

By Matthew Placzek
Special to FOX Sports

LONDON – England defeated Ukraine, 2-0, in its return to Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Here are three thoughts on the Euro qualifying action:

England dominates in scintillating fashion

After one of the most commanding first-half performances from the Three Lions in recent history, Gareth Southgate’s men slumped in the second 45′ and had to cling to a 2-1 win lead to earn three points against Italy on Thursday.

There was no such decline against a resigned Ukrainian side in front of 80,000 of the most clamorous home fans in international soccer. Quite uncharacteristically, England dictated the flow of the game from the first minute to the final whistle.

With the inclusion of Jordan Henderson over Kalvin Phillips, the discrepancy in midfield talent between the English and the Ukrainians was massive. The Three Lions dictated every play and continuously sliced through any attempted Ukrainian press with ease. Just as they did in the World Cup, the midfield trio of Henderson-Declan Rice–Jude Bellingham anchored England’s movement throughout the match, allowing Harry Kane to recycle his runs if needed.

The difference in quality was even more evident in front of goal. England had 18 shots (all but one inside the box) and forced six saves out of goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin. On the other hand, Ukraine sent three shots from outside the 18-yard box toward Jordan Pickford, but not a single one of them ended up anywhere near the Everton goalkeeper. In fact, the only time Pickford had to touch the ball with his hands was to restart play on goal kicks.

The withdrawal of Phil Foden due to appendix surgery will put a slight damper on the English mood, but a solid win means they sit comfortably at the top of Group C with six points after two games.

Bukayo Saka is in the best form of his career

It only took three minutes for the 21-year-old to show the world why Southgate didn’t bother calling in another right-winger for this international break.

In the 37th minute, Saka brought down a diagonal ball from Kane with the most delicate of touches onto his preferred left foot. He then drove straight at Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk, putting the defender on his heels, before whipping in a flawless cross to find the left foot of Kane for the first goal of the game.

Three minutes later, Saka drifted inside from the flank to receive a pass from Kyle Walker. With his back to goal, he shuffled the ball onto his left foot and cut inside to create a half-yard of space in front of Mykola Matvienko. With the Shakhtar Donetsk defender out of the equation, Saka unleashed a screamer into the top bins for a goal that deserves to be watched over and over.

With 13 goals for Arsenal in the Premier League this season, Saka has already eclipsed his total of 12 from the entire 2021-22 campaign. Other than Lionel Messi, it’s difficult to think of another left-footed player with the same ability to drag players out of position into dangerous one-on-one situations.

With eight goals in 26 appearances, Saka has accumulated quite the strike rate with the Three Lions. If his teammates continue to hand him opportunities in threatening positions, the youngster could easily rack up three or four more goals before this qualification window wraps up.

Ukraine has lost its spark

The world was in Ukraine’s corner as it took on Wales in the final game of the World Cup playoffs last June. In heartbreaking fashion, Andriy Yarmolenko redirected a Gareth Bale free kick into his own goal to end the Blue and Yellow‘s dream of making the trip to Qatar.

On Sunday, Ruslan Rotan’s men were a shell of the passionate side that propelled Ukraine to that moment.

The only player in a yellow jersey who looked up to the task of competing with England was SC Dnipro-1’s Oleksandr Svatok despite it being the 28-year-old’s first international game. He did well to limit Kane’s touches in the final third and had a strong awareness of where he needed to be when defending a dangerous England counterattack.

The other 10 men put in average performances but did little to stem the constant tsunami of white shirts. Both fullbacks had to be subbed off because they couldn’t handle over-the-top long balls. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Taras Stepanenko were defensively stout, but they offered almost nothing for Ukraine going forward.

Mudryk, who signed with Chelsea for a combined 100 million Euros in transfer fees and add-ons in January, had the toughest day on the pitch. He lost eight of his nine ground duels and only took 30 touches in 61 minutes. If Mudryk can’t step up and supply the goal contributions that Ukraine desperately need, the Blue and Yellow are in for a long qualification campaign.

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