MX23RW : Thursday, December 12 23:19:34| >> :600:1757873:1757873:

Preview: Group D - Ukraine vs. France

Sports Mole looks at Ukraine's Group D encounter with France as the co-hosts bid to reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2012.

Co-hosts Ukraine have a huge incentive to beat Group D rivals France on Friday as a win would see the Euro 2012 co-hosts book their place in the last eight of the tournament.

Oleg Blokhin's men have given themselves a tremendous platform to progress as they came from a goal down to beat Sweden 2-1 in Kiev on Monday.

A similar result this time around would see them reach only the second quarter-final at a major tournament in their history after their exploits at the 2006 World Cup.

However, a dangerous France will be wanting to get their campaign up and running following a stuttering 1-1 draw with England in their opening match.

Andrey Shevchenko could start in attack for Ukraine following his brace against the Swedes as Blokhin is expected to stick with much of the same side that beat the Scandinavians.

Meanwhile, a fit Yann M'Vila should return to a largely unchanged France starting XI in place of Alou Diarra.

Current form:

Ukraine: WWWLLW
France: DWWWWD

Possible lineups:

Ukraine: Pyatov; Husyev, Khacheridi, Mykhalyk, Selin; Tymoschchuck, Rotan; Nazarenko, Konoplyanka, Yarmolenko; Shevchenko

France: Lloris; Debuchy, Rami, Mexes, Evra; Cabaye, M'Vila, Malouda; Nasri, Benzema, Ribery

Sports Mole says: 1-1

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Written by
Jack Prescott

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