On September 4, at 17:30 Kyiv time, the penultimate game of the men's national team of Ukraine will take place in the group round of the European Championship 2023. Our team will play against Finland.
A defeat in this match will mean the end of the fight for the playoffs.
Rosters of the teams
Finland
The Finnish national team is led by the Belgian specialist, former passer Joel Banks. From the 2023-2024 season, he will work as a coach of the German's "Berlin". It is interesting that several players of the Finnish national team will also play for the top club in Germany.
Frankly speaking, there are no stars in the Finnish national team. The volleyball players of this team play in various rather mediocre club championships of the continent.
setters: Eemi Tervaportti (Jastszembski Wengel, Poland), Fedor Ivanov (Giesen, Germany);
liberos: Voitto Köykkä ("Trefl" Poland), Niklas Breilin ("Giesen" Germany);
opposites: Aaro Nikula ("Arcade Galati" Romania), Joonas Jokela ("Savo Volei" Finland), Samuli Kaislasalo ("Orion" Netherlands);
outside hitters: Jiri Hyanninen ("Berlin" Germany), Niko Suihkonen ("Chaumont" France), Luka Marttila ("Monza" Italy), Sakari Mäkinen ("Orion" Netherlands);
middle blockers: Alexej Zhbankov ("Loimu" Finland), Miika Haapaniemi ("Hurrikaani" Finland), Nuutti Niinivaara ("Hurrikaani" Finland);
Head coach: Joel Banks (Berlin, Germany).
Ukraine
setters: Serhii Yevstratov (VC "Prometey"*), Yurii Synytsia;
outside hitters: Oleg Plotnytskyi ("Perugia" Italy), Timofii Poluian ("Milon" Greece), Vitalii Kucher ("Barkom-Kazhany"), Illia Kovalov ("Barkom-Kazhany");
liberos: Oleksandr Boiko (VC "Prometey"), Dmytro Kanaiev ("Barkom-Kazhany");
middle blockers: Yurii Semeniuk, Vladyslav Shchurov ("Barkom-Kazhany"), Bohdan Mazenko ("Barkom-Kazhany"), Volodymyr Ostapenko ("Epicenter-Podolyany");
the opposites: Vasyl Tupchii ("Barkom-Kazhany"), Yevhenii Kisilyuk ("Epicenter-Podolyany").
Head coach: Uģis Krastiņš (Latvia).
Other matches at Euro-2023
Finland beat Croatia (3-0) in their opening match, but then lost to Bulgaria (1-3), Slovenia (0-3), and Spain (1-3).
The Ukrainians lost three matches in a row. First, the "blue and yellows" have lost to Slovenia (1:3), the next day - to Croatia (2:3), and then to Bulgaria (1:3).
Ukraine needs to beat the Finns to continue the fight for a place in the round of 16. If our team loses, the final match against Spain will no longer have tournament significance.
The Group B standings now look like this (as of September 3, 23:00):
European Championship-2023. Group round. Group B. The fourth match
September 4, Monday
17:30 Finland - Ukraine
Watch the online broadcast of the match Finland - Ukraine on September 4 at 17:30 on the YouTube channel DIVISPORT.
