Ukraine reaches UEFA U21 Championship semi-finals and qualifies for Olympics for first time

Ukraine’s national football team has reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, having won a strong-willed victory over France with a score of 3-1.

Source: Suspilne Sport

Details: The Ukraine-France match was the last of the playoffs. Three of the four semi-finalists had already been determined – Israel, Spain and England.

In their match against France, the Ukrainians were battling to get through to both the youth Euro semi-finals and the 2024 Olympics; after England’s victory, all three semi-finalists got through.

The Ukrainians started the match with a goal that was disallowed under the offside rule. Then, in the 19th minute, France scored the first goal: Rayan Cherki outwitted the Ukrainian defenders and opened the scoring in the match.

But by half-time, Ukraine had not only equalised but also taken the lead. First, the referee awarded a penalty due to a foul on Mykhailo Mudryk, which was duly dispatched by Heorhii Sudakov. And just before half-time, Mudryk delivered a long pass to Sudakov, who beat the French goalkeeper to take the lead.

France equalised after half-time, but the referee disallowed the goal due to striker Elye Wahi being offside. Then Ukraine scored: Artem Bondarenko outwitted the French defence near the goalkeeper and shot the ball into the back of the net.

As a result, Ukraine beat France 3-1 and reached the 2023 Euro semi-finals and the 2024 Olympics.

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