Illa out after the European Championship premiere. Illa out after the first half in the second match.
Then Ukraine turned it around and defeated Slovakia 2–1.
A very important win for the team and the country, says Ukraine's national team captain Serhij Rebrov.
Ukraine's European Championship premiere against Romania was a major disappointment. Loss with 0–3 and weak interventions from goalkeeper Andrij Lunin, who normally plays for Real Madrid.
In the group stage's second match, against Slovakia in Düsseldorf, Lunin was replaced in goal by Anatolij Trubin – who after 17 minutes saw the ball pass the goal line. Lukas Haraslin swept away an inlay that Ivan Schranz (the match hero in the 1–0 win against Belgium) nodded in.
A Slovakian sweet start. But that luck would not last.
"Don't worry"
In the 54th minute, Ukraine equalised. Oleksandr Zintjenko played forward to Mykola Sjaparenko, who set 1–1. With ten minutes left of regular time, the deciding goal came. Sjaparenko found Roman Jaremtjuk, who received and tapped in the match-winning 2–1.
We understood that this was our chance and that's what I said (at half-time). I said, don't worry about the result and just keep going, says Rebrov according to the European football association's (Uefa) website.
"Completely different attitude"
He thought the win was well-deserved.
We did poorly against Romania, but showed a completely different attitude today and we deserved to win. Now we must focus on the next match. But this was a very important win for the team and the country, says Rebrov.
The win means that both Ukraine and Slovakia now have three points and relatively good opportunities to advance to the finals.
Ukraine will meet Belgium in the final match, while Slovakia will take on Romania.
