Summary
Germany were Germany tonight. They got the job done. Toni Kroos put in a mesmeric performance in the middle of the pitch. But Ukraine helped them immensely, and save for a 10 minute period at the end of the first half, never got hold of the game. Despite that, they did have chances, and Germany’s defence could well be breached later in the tournament once they come up against more ruthless opponents.
Thanks for your emails and tweets, tonight, I’ll see you next time.
Updated
Full-time: Germany 2-0 Ukraine
That’s it. A thoroughly accomplished second-half display from Germany, but that was desperately poor from Ukraine. They showed no attacking intent to try and save the game in the second half. During the first, they could well have had as many of three goals, but Germany have Neuer and Boateng to thank for keeping them at bay.
Updated
GOAL! Germany 2-0 Ukraine (Schweinsteiger 90+2 min)
Ukraine get a corner, and this time they do send the cavalry forward, but it is to their demise, as Germany counter at pace down the left. Schurrle feeds Ozil, who swings an inch-perfect cross to an unmarked Schweinsteiger at the back post, and the 31-year-old makes no mistake, half-volleying the ball into the roof of Pyatov’s net. Schweini!
Updated
90 min: Schweinsteiger comes on, for Gotze. This is a man that hasn’t played a game of football since 20 March. But he is a bonafide legend for Germany, and the fans welcome him as such. “Schweini” they chant. Three minutes added on here for injury time.
Updated
89 min: This sums up Ukraine’s second half performance. They have 6ft6in defenders at the back, but rather put it into the box, play the resulting corner short, and Khedira gets a toe in and clears.
88 min: So nearly an equaliser for Ukraine! Pyatov punts the ball forward, and it looks to be safely bouncing through to Neuer, but then Mustafi heads the ball past his own keeper … it trickles towards goal, or just wide of it, and Boateng is there to make sure and put it behind for a keeper.
Updated
86 min: Khedira and Kroos have oozed quality in the middle of the pitch. Stepanenko and Sydorchuk haven’t had a kick in this second half.
84 min: Ukraine do not look like scoring. But then that’s what we thought about Russia yesterday.
82 min: Schurrle gets stuck into the action straight away, popping up on the edge of the box, scuffing his shot against his own foot, but still worries Pyatov, as the ball bounces just past the wrong side of the post.
Updated
79 min: Draxler off (sob) and Schurrle comes on. Yet another player that I won’t be using an umlaut on. Time sensitive, these MBMs, you see.
77 min: Actually, maybe Low doesn’t dye his hair. There is a hint of salt-n-pepa in there! Everything is going to be OK.
74 min: Germany are beginning to pepper Ukraine’s goals with shots, although none are what one might describe as ‘golden chances’. As Gotze and then Muller shoot, Pyatov is there to palm it safely out of harm’s way.
71 min: Ukraine make their second change, Kovalenko coming off for Zinchenko. Billed as the next big thing, 20-year-old Kovalenko has not had the opportunity to shine tonight, and has spent it largely chasing Kroos around, to little effect.
68 min: Howedes, who has been a little more restrained since the break, gets forward well on the right, and sends a deep cross towards Draxler at the back post. Draxler has the run on his marker, Fedetskiy, but can’t direct his header goalwards.
@michaelbutler18 Are you a big Julian Draxler fan?
— Myles Palmer (@invadingmypriva) June 12, 2016
I am Myles. The way he absolutely bossed Real Madrid in Wolfsburg’s Champions League quarter-final first leg was evidence of his class. So silky, and languid in his style, yet devestatingly quick when he wants to be.
Updated
66 min: Konoplyanka is given a yellow card, the first of the game, for a cynical foul on Gotze to halt a dangerous German counter-attack. A good booking.
Updated
65 min: And just as we mention him, he’s off! Ukraine make their first change, Zozulya coming off for Seleznyov. Like for like change.
62 min: Get your Ramble reference here…
Who told Zozulya this hairstyle was a good idea? #GER #UKR #Euro2016 pic.twitter.com/twfxPusWrH
— Eric Krakauer (@bigsoccerheadNY) June 12, 2016
“That’s quite a hair island Zozulya is sporting out there,” emails JR in Illois. “In case that or his six month ban for attacking a referee isn’t enough proof that he’s a maniac you could always watch him go cuckoo after getting sent off for head butting Vertonghen in the Europa League a couple years ago:”
He’s a livewire alright. But hasn’t had a sniff of a chance this game.
Updated
60 min: We reach the hour mark. Suggested German subs: Gotze, Ozil off, Gomez, Sane on.
Khedira shoots again from range, but Pyatov beats it away. Germany have had plenty of possession and gets the ball wide well, but no real presence in the box, which is why Gomez should come on. IMO.
Updated
58 min: Germany have had the better of this second half so far, but the game is certainly still in the balance. Ukraine have eight players past the age of 30, so perhaps they will tire as we go on.
56 min: Rakitskiy, Ukraine’s centre-back, tries his luck from 30 yards out from a free-kick. It skims along the turf, and would have just crept inside the near post, but Neuer is, of course, there to tip in behind.
@michaelbutler18 Can you post a video of the Welsh goal line save yesterday, Michael?
— Jeff Sisler (@JeffSisler) June 12, 2016
I can.
What a block from Ben Davies #WAL #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/kAWXoHyVN0
— Footy Planet (@Footy__Planet) June 11, 2016
53 min: Konoplyanka battles with Muller for the ball on the touchline, with the linesman eventually awarding Ukraine the throw-in. “Did you not see that?” asks Muller of the fourth official, Scotland’s Bobby Madden, in perfect English?
The commentators are debating whether Low dyes his jet black hair. The German manager is 56, remember. It’s a yes from me.
Updated
51 min: Kroos hits the bar! Well the very edge of it anyway, zooming a 25-yard shot towards the top corner. Pyatov initially looked comfortable, but was nowhere near it by the time it whistle past his post.
48 min: A quite glorious diagonal 40-yard ball from Boateng finds Draxler, and he tests Pyatov with a dipping drive, but the Ukraine keeper saw it all the way, comfortably tipping it wide. Boateng is having quite the game.
“If we go with the whole ‘goals are overrated’ schtick, can we have a (non-goalkeeper) save of the tournament instead of goal of the tournament?” asks Robin Hazlehurst. “I’d put Boateng’s ahead of that Welsh one yesterday, but not by much. Each was worth at least a goal and more spectacular than many that get scored.”
Agreed, Boateng wins. Next.
Updated
46 min: “What odds that if the Germans are still leading one nil with five minutes to go they will nervously sit deeper and deeper until Ukraine equalise?” asks David Goldstone.
If Ukraine play anything like they did in the last 10 minutes of the first half: high.
And that’s coming from an Englishman, who should know all about this sort of thing.
Updated
Peeep peeeep! And we’re off again.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Germany 1-0 Ukraine
This has been a fabulous half. Germany started well, with Kroos bossing it in the middle of the park. But Ukraine finished strongly. What a half we have next.
45 min: One minute added on here. It’s nearly half-time and I’ve just realised I haven’t mentioned Mesut Ozil once.
42 min: “Is anyone else a little disappointed by Joachim Low this evening?” asks David Wall. “For a man capable of being so stylish without even trying he seems to have put in negative effort by the looks of him. I was expecting something like a Breton shirt or jumper, taking the place of his iconic light blue one, for this tournament. It’s not too much to ask, I think the Albania manager was wearing a waistcoat on Saturday afternoon, and he is in France, after all.”
I can confirm that Low is wearing a dark grey tee, and is profusely sweating under his armpits in Lille, where it is still 15C.
Seen plenty of Jogi Loew's nipples so far.
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) June 12, 2016
Updated
40 min: This is much better from Ukraine, Konoplyanka, Yarmolenko and even Sydorchuk have all got their swag back, jinking and feinting inside to create pockets of space. Germany look a little lost as we near the end of the half.
38 min: Ukraine have the ball in the net! But it’s ruled out for offside, rightly so. A cross from Konoplyanka comes in from the left, and Kovalenko illegally steals a yard, his header sending the ball pibballing around the six yard box, and by the time Zozulya taps the ball into the empty net, the linesman has put his flag up.
34 min: Yarmolenko gets in a threatening position for the first time, gets his sand wedge out and pops a quite amazing lofted pass to the back post, taking out four German defenders in the process. Konoplyanka arrives from deep and simply has to hit the target to score, but he skews his shot across goal, it his Boateng bounces towards goal, and just as it is about to cross the line, Boateng somehow regains his balance and toes it clear. What a clearance, great defending. Martin Atkinson had to rely on his goal-line technology there, it was that close.
Updated
31 min: “The BBC panel were in fine form before the game,” notes Is Murray. “Earlier in the week they had John Hartson telling us -and I quote- that Thomas Muller is a nice player. This evening we had Shearer explaining that he (Muller) gets all sorts of goals (screamers, tap-ins) and looks ungainly and not as elegant as Ronaldo or Messi. They Henry piped in with his suggestion that Germany will suffer from a lack of a Number 9. The standard of analysis is abysmal this tournament. Apart from Slaven Bilic.”
Bilic seems like a stand-up guy, doesn’t he. Plus, 8 years ago to the day, he led Croatia to a 2-1 win over, you guessed it, Germany.
"Bilic seems like a stand-up guy"? More of a fall down guy - https://t.co/TgeMaoJw0j @michaelbutler18
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) June 12, 2016
Updated
29 min: Kroos floats a delightful ball over the heads of Ukrain’s defence, and Khedira – Khedira! – is all in the clear. One touch, and bang! But Pyatov had swiftly come off his line to close the angle, and he gets takes one straight in the stomach to keep the score at 1-0. Not sure what Ukraine’s central midfielders Stepanenko and Sydorchuk are playing at, but they need to mark Kroos. And quickly.
26 min: Ukraine force a corner, and with Khacheridi rising highest at the back post and heading towards goal from all of three yards out, this MBMer is fully ready to write Germany 1-1 Ukraine, before Neuer sticks out a hand and somehow turns the ball over the bar. Ukraine have had just 36% possession so far, and have been utterly dominated, but they could easily have scored two goals, but for Germany’s goalkeeper.
Updated
22 min: Ukraine are far, far too deep. Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka have spend the first 22 minutes doing nothing but tracking back, and Ukraine haven’t been out of their half in 10 minutes. Kroos is running the show, as is his wont, and he tries his luck from range, but it is deflected behind.
20 min: Mustafi would surely not be playing today if Mats Hummels was fit, but he’s not so the former Everton defender (who made one appearance for the Merseyside club in the three years that he was there 2009-2012) got the nod. How he has made his mark.
GOAL! Germany 1-0 Ukraine (Mustafi 19)
From the resulting free-kick, which they should never have been given, Germany score! It’s as simple a set-piece but the quality of Kroos’s whipped delivery, and the power, direction and all-round HARRUMMPH of Mustafi’s bullet header at the back post simply leaves Pyatov standing in the Ukraine goal.
Updated
18 min: An excellent tackle from Rakitskiy is wrongly penalised, the centre-back got the ball cleanly when challenging Muller.
16 min: England’s Martin Atkinson, tonight’s referee, gives a foul in Ukraine’s favour, after Kroos got all up in the grill of Kovalenko, who’s mop of blonde hair is yellow as his kit. This is Atkinson’s first game as a referee in a major international finals, by the way.
Updated
14 min: “Neuer’s outfit is disturbing - black top, fine; white shorts and socks, all wrong,” emails Charles Antaki. “Not a strip which would be sanctioned by the Savile Row Goalkeepers Association if there was one.”
12 min: Draxler gets to the byline, floats a cross to Muller at the back post, and it is Hector, of all Germans, who is there to pounce on the knock down. But he swings his weaker right foot, and comes up with nothing but sweet June air. What a miss.
Here’s more on the Germany left-back.
Updated
8 min: Howedes is playing VERY high, helping whoever out of Muller, Gotze, Ozil is in front of him. It’s quite clear that Germany are targeting Ukraine’s captain Shevchuk as a weak link. Shevchuk is 37 years old.
6 min: Germany defend the corner well, with Neuer catching, not punching, a high ball. Why, oh why, don’t more keepers do that?
5 min: Chance for Ukraine! Oooooh, what a save from Neuer. Fedetskiy picked the pocket of Draxler on Germany’s left, squared an excellent ball to Konoplyanka, and the Sevilla man curled a fierce effort towards the top corner, but Neuer dived to his left and tipped it behind for a corner. Woof!
Updated
4 min: Gotze pops up in a pocket of space, drives into the box, but sees his snapshot shot blocked. Draxler has a go and volleying the rebound towards goal, but slices it wide.
3 min: We’re settled into a predicable rhythm: Germany with the ball, Ukraine with men behind the ball. Much of Ukraine’s strength is in defence, they only conceded five goals in 12 qualification games.
1 min: Thirty-five seconds in and co-commentator has just used the word ‘technician’ to describe Toni Kroos. Now we’re stagging.
Peeeeeep peeeep! And we’re off! Send me your emails and tweets please: michael.butler@theguardian.com or @michaelbutler18.
Updated
The teams are out, and the anthems are underway. I don’t think I’ve heard a more out-of-tune rendition of a national anthem than the one the Ukrainian players just delivered. Assistant coach Andriy Shevchenko was mildly better on the bench.
Updated
For Ukraine, they line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. They have a very interesting front four: Yarmolenko, Kovalenko, Konoplyanka, Zozulya.
Dynamo Kyiv’s Yarmolenko led the scoring charts in qualifying, scoring six and he is probably the biggest name on their team-sheet. But no other player created more chances in Europe than Sevilla’s Konoplyanka in qualifying. Both players are lightning quick on the wings and will relish the chance to get at Howedes and Hector.
Roman Zozulya is the side’s No9, even though he was banned from domestic football for six months earlier in May after attacking a referee in a Ukrainian cup semi-final. Kovalenko is the next big thing, he will start in the No10 role. I’m expecting fireworks.
For more on the Ukrainian team, click here:
The teams are in!
Germany: Neuer, Howedes, Boateng, Mustafi, Hector, Khedira, Kroos, Muller, Ozil, Draxler, Gotze.
Subs: Leno, Hummels, Schweinsteiger, Schurrle, Podolski, Can, Weigl, Tah, Sane, Kimmich, Gomez, Ter Stegen.
Ukraine: Pyatov, Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Rakitskiy, Shevchuk, Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Yarmolenko, Kovalenko, Konoplyanka, Zozulya.
Subs: Boyko, Butko, Tymoschuk, Kucher, Seleznyov, Rotan, Budkivskiy, Rybalka, Garmash, Zinchenko, Karavayev, Shevchenko.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)
Tonight’s match will be played at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, which will host six matches at this tournament, and has an innovative hydraulic pitch, allowing the pitch to be altered for different sporting events.
Preamble
The case against Germany:
- They are ravaged by injuries: Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan, Antonio Ruediger, while Mats Hummels is unlikely to be fit to play a part against Ukraine.
- With Mario Gómez the only out-and-out striker in the squad, they have an attack severely lacking in pace. Talented they may be but Gomez, Mesut Özil, Lucas Podolski, Thomas Müller, and Mario Götze aren’t the quickest.
- Philippe Lahm has retired from international football.
- They failed to impress in Euro 2016 qualifying – scraping past Georgia and Scotland, while Poland scored eight more goals than them in Group D – and have lost seven matches since the 2014 World Cup, including a recent 3-1 home defeat to Slovakia.
The case for Germany:
- They are World Cup winners.
- They have Joachim Löw, the longest serving manager at Euro 2016, and a very nice mix between youth and experience: despite having the second youngest squad at the tournament (26.4 years), they can claim to be, on median average, the most experienced team, with 52 caps.
- They have the best goalkeeper in the world.
- THEY ARE GERMANY AND THIS IS A MAJOR TOURNAMENT.
Discuss …
Kick-off: 8pm BST, 9pm in Lille
Updated
Michael will be here shortly. In the meantime, why not have a read of Jason Humphreys’ tale of two Marios?
Two years ago Mario Götze was the darling of Germany. His beautifully taken extra-time winner in Rio delivered the World Cup to Joachim Löw’s team and ensured the forward’s place in the hearts of the millions watching at home. But as the nation jumped to its feet in the 113th minute, knocking over plates and spilling drinks, another German forward would have been experiencing mixed emotions – elation, without a doubt, but with a melancholic tinge. For Mario Gómez, the tournament was the epitome of a season of false starts.
Despite scoring 75 goals in 115 appearances for Bayern Munich over three seasons, Gómez left the club in July 2013 after falling behind Mario Mandzukic in the pecking order – a result of the Croatian’s stellar form since signing from Wolfsburg and Gómez’s own injuries and subsequent delayed start to the season. Mandzukic hit the ground running and there was simply no getting him out of the team. In the end, Gómez signed off with a brace in the DFB Cup Final to help beat former club VfB Stuttgart and made an eye-catching move to Fiorentina for around €20m.
