Kharkiv - Veres. Forecast and preview of the Ukrainian championship match

On Saturday, August 1, the match of the 1st round of the Ukrainian Premier League will take place, where "Kharkiv" will play against the Rovno-based "Veres". The game will be held in Kyiv at the "Levyi Bereh" stadium, starting at 15:30.

Kharkiv

Before this season, the club was named "Metalist 1925". The reasons for such a naming were understandable - the club was created when the beloved of the Kharkiv public "Metalist" was going through difficult times after the notorious leadership of Serhiy Kurchenko, so local activists decided to create an alternative that would be associated with the successes of the legendary team Zhazhi and Devicha.

The club decently passed through the amateur league, the Second and First leagues, and entered the UPL. There it played with varying success, was on the verge of disappearing when former investors lost either the ability to sustain it or simply interest, but in time Volodymyr Nosov appeared, who bought shares of the club and started a new chapter in its history.

Not everything was perfect, there was relegation to the First League, but with dignity the club managed to survive this period and return to the UPL. There the team is gradually developing, setting ambitious goals accompanied by specific actions. In particular, there was a statement of intention to win all local trophies and European cups. Let's see in about 10 years what comes out of this.

Meanwhile, it was decided by the management to move away from the association with "Metalist" and focus on the club's belonging to its city, in honor of which the renaming took place, even if Bartulovich's team does not have to play at the home stands.

There was a return to the "Levyi Bereh" stadium, from where the Kharkiv residents were forced to leave due to the foolishness of their own academy players, who, being in the stands, insulted the home team with foul language, as a result of which they had to literally drive out the unwelcome visitors. However, obviously, apologies and finances helped to resolve the situation, and we will again see "Kharkiv" at the cozy left-bank stadium in Kyiv or the Kyiv region.

In the offseason, the team traditionally played against strong opponents, including "Karabakh", "Schalke", "Young Boys" with "Salzburg" and several other not so star-studded but well-known clubs. They managed to win only against "Karabakh" (6:2), but despite the defeats, matches against clubs of such level provide invaluable experience.

In the offseason, the team significantly strengthened. The club has long wanted to sign Alexander Yatsyk from "Dynamo", who is known to head coach Mladenovich Bartulovich for his work at Zorya Luhansk, and finally succeeded. Also, promising Argentine Rafael Profini was signed, and the last lines were reinforced - from "Maccabi" they finally managed to sign the best goalkeeper of the UPL from the past season Yermakov, from MLS to take on loan Artem Smolyakov, and from "Kryvbas" to take the scoring Venezuelan forward Parako.

The squad looks solid, now it's all about teamwork. It's always interesting to watch such serious projects, so let's see.

Veres

Veres also has a thorny and difficult history. The club experienced performances in the USSR, lower leagues in the 90s, disappearance in 2011, and revival in 2015. There was also a completely mysterious history of exchanging leagues with FC Lviv. Do you remember those tangled tricky combinations? FC Lviv played in the Second League, Veres in the UPL, then Lviv was renamed to Veres, Veres to Lviv, players moved back and forth... Everything was legal, but very, to put it mildly, tricky and confusing.

However, after the Second League, they managed to return to the UPL, where the team does not grab stars from the sky, but constantly remains in the top division - sometimes through playoff matches, sometimes not.

Before the new season, the Rivne team prepared in Ukraine, playing only against Ukrainian teams. In the season, the club will rely on existing personnel and its own academy, as players like Klyots, Honcharenko, Ndukwu, Korniychuk, Kozhukhar left the team. Only Australian striker Bler was signed.

It seems that Shandruk's team is facing a battle for survival, but who knows, there are enough teams of similar level in the league.

Match Statistics

Interestingly, the first victories of Kharkiv were achieved only last season, winning twice against Veres, in the previous five matches they invariably lost.

Possible Lineups

Kharkiv: Varakuta - Krupsky, Shabanov, Salyuk, Martinyuk - Kalyuzhny, Yatsyk - Rashitsa, Profini, Antyukh - Parako

Veres: Gorokh - Stamulis, Honcharenko, Tsipot, Smiyan - Kharatin, Fabrizio - Pomba, Godia, Sharai - Bler

Prediction for the Match

Kharkiv looks like the obvious favorite, but how many times have we seen a team, in the starting game of which a confident victory is expected, fail to score and play a draw? There is a very strong temptation to bet on 0:0, but still, probably, I won't risk it and predict a victory for Kharkiv, which should be quite challenging.