You Bet | England likely to win World Cup qualifier against Ukraine

Roy Hodgson’s England begin their home 

campaign in a World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday night against Ukraine, who are becoming increasingly familiar rivals.

Each side recorded a home win when they were paired in the last World Cup qualifying programme and they met again at Euro 2012, where England won 1-0 in what amounted to an away victory over the co-hosts. As the earlier home win for Ukraine in October 2009 came after England had secured qualification for the 2010 World Cup, the balance of power

is clearly with England and should remain that way on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s results, just like Andriy Shevchenko’s legs, have been on the wane in recent years and there is nobody who can fill the boots of their talismanic striker now that he has retired. Shevchenko was their one world-class player and, once he passed his prime, they became a limited, workman-like side.

Home support could not raise their level at Euro 2012, where they lost to nil against both England and France and needed goals from Shevchenko for a 2-1 comeback victory over Sweden.

Ukraine’s first post-Shevchenko game,  a home friendly with the Czech Republic last month, ended goalless, which means that no player in the current squad has scored in the past five internationals.

It is worth pointing out that Ukraine’s world ranking of 39 underestimates them. This always happens with countries that recently hosted a major tournament, simply by virtue of the fact that they did not have to go through qualifying for that tournament and so their ability to collect rankings points diminished. Even so, Ukraine would struggle to get into the top 30 at the moment.