Substitute Roman Yaremchuk kept Ukraine in Euro 2024 contention with a goal 10 minutes from time to defeat Slovakia 2-1 on Friday.
The win keep alive their hopes of reaching the next round.
Yaremchuk connected with a lofted pass from Mykola Shaparenko and nudged the ball past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, thwarting Slovakia’s early bid for a knockout stage berth after they had initially taken the lead.
Ukraine, rebounding from a disappointing 3-0 defeat by Romania, made five changes, including the crucial inclusions of winger Andriy Yarmolenko and goalkeeper Antoliy Trubin, who were instrumental in securing the victory.
Slovakia began strongly, with Lukas Haraslin, Ivan Schranz, and David Hancko forcing early saves from Trubin. Schranz opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a well-placed downward header from Haraslin’s precise lobbed cross, marking his second goal of the tournament.
Ukraine fought back, with Oleksandr Tymchyk hitting the post just after the half-hour mark. Their persistence paid off in the 54th minute when Shaparenko found space and calmly scored from an Oleksandr Zinchenko cross. Ukraine maintained the pressure throughout the second half, eventually clinching the winner late on.
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