As the drums of war beat, the starting lineups and bench lineups for both teams were revealed.
The Belgian team was skippered by the young Italian-born talent Tedesco, who has worked closely with many stars on the top stage of European soccer. The star-studded starting lineup featured Carrasco, a foreigner who played for Dalian (Dalian People) in the Chinese Super League, but this time he was unexpectedly placed on the bench.
Belgium's starting lineup is as follows: goalkeeper 1 Castells; defenders 21 Castagne, 5 Vertonghen, 4 Fasth, 3 Tate; midfielders 8 Thielemans, 7 De Bruyne (Manchester City), 24 Amadou Onaona; forwards 9 Trossard (Arsenal), 22 Doku (Blue Moon Manchester City), 10 Lukaku (Red Wolves Roma).
Among the substitutes, 12 Kaminski, 13 Mats Sels, 19 Bakayoko, 11 Carrasco, 2 De Bast, 25 De Kuyper, 17 De Ketelaere, 18 Aurel Mangala, 20 Oponda, 23 Vermeulen (La Liga's bedlam team Atletico Madrid) and 16 Franks are on standby.
Ukraine's manager Rebrov, a former counterpart of soccer great Sheva, has a similarly well-stocked squad. However, two high-priced Premier League imports were left sitting silently on the bench.
The Ukrainian team's starting lineup is: goalkeeper 12 Trubin (Benfica); defenders 16 Mykolenko (Toffees Everton), 22 Matviyenko (Donetsk Miners), 3 Svatok, 13 Zabolny, 24 Tymchuk; midfielders 14 Sudakov, 18 Blazhko, 19 Shaparenko; and strikers 11 Dovbic (Girona), 9 Yaremchuk (Valencia, La Liga's Batting Army).
On the bench, 1-Bushkan, 23-Lunin (Galacticos Real Madrid), 2-Konoplya, 4-Talovilov, 5-Sedorchuk, 6-Stepanenko, 7-Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kiev), 8-Malinovsky (Genoa), 10-Mudric (Premier League Blues Chelsea), 15-Tsygankov, 17-Zinchenko (Gunners Arsenal), 20- Zubkov, 21-Bondal, 25-Vanat, 26-Mikhailichenko and other players are listed.
So, what will be the final result of this matchup between Belgium and Ukraine? Let's wait and see.
