Euro U21: Goalkeeper’s goal sends Israel to the tournament, Talovjerov celebrates progress with Ukraine

Alongside David Jurásek, Kryštof Daňek and other players from the Czech national team, another player from the Fortuna League – Maksym Talovjerov – will also play at the European Under-21 Championship. He qualified for the tournament with Ukraine, while the Israelis and Croats also succeeded.

Ukraine did not go into the rematch from a good position. They managed to equalise twice in the match in Slovakia, but failed to react to David Streltsy’s goal and went into the second match played in Bielsko-Biała, Poland, with a one-goal deficit.

Talovjerov came on as a first substitute in the first match at 3:2 and after his arrival the Ukrainians did not score again. In the second game he got his chance from the opening minute and did not disappoint the coach’s confidence.

At half-time the score was goalless, but then Danylo Sikan started his concert. The striker of champions Shakhtar Donetsk scored a hat-trick between the 48th and 62nd minute to send Ukraine to the tournament in Georgia and Romania.

All three of Sikan’s goals were very similar. The first two were tap-ins into an empty net from a small area, while the third came after a mistake by Slovakia’s captain, when Sikan again had an easy job after a pass from Dmytro Kryskiv.

Along with Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the Croats and the Israelis also secured their participation in the final tournament.

Both of them, however, only on penalties, with the Croatians deciding to advance over the Danes in the sixth series of the shootout, also in an outdoor environment.

The shootout in Israel was even more interesting. The hero was home goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, who caught three Irish penalty kicks and converted one himself.

Unusually, he was the second Israeli to take the kick and, with the shootout ending 3-1, he scored a crucial goal.

Source: UEFA