It's about half an hour after Daniel Sturridge's 92nd minute winner for England against Wales and instead of going out and getting off my face drunk, I've got to sit here in an uncomfortably warm office and write about Ukraine. I hope you're all happy...
Away from my self pity, a stellar defensive display from Northern Ireland in the opening round of fixtures meant their loss to Poland was by just the single goal rather than a bucket-load and I expect them to set up much the same here in Lyon. Ukraine's opener against Germany, on the other hand, was much more open and in my opinion, made them look better than they are on the ball. The 'Yellow-Blue' had a host of chances on the break and if it wasn't for Jerome Boateng and Manuel Neuer it could have been a different story.
Unfortunately for them, then, that I expect Northern Ireland to sit behind the ball, absorb pressure and try to hit the Ukrainians on the break somehow. However, their strikers aren't the fastest in the world and Ukraine's defence should be able to cope with them quite well. Therefore, I fancy these two sides to cancel each other out somewhat; so I'm backing Under 2.5 goals at 1/2 here.
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