DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Slovakia faces Ukraine on Friday in Duesseldorf in their second Group E match at the European Championship. Slovakia is second to Romania on goal difference, and Ukraine is last. Romania and Belgium play on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT). Here’s what to know about the match:
— Ukraine had a shock 3-0 loss to Romania that included costly errors from Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin. Another loss could mean elimination for Ukraine, which was a quarterfinalist in 2021.
— Ukraine's players apologized to their fans for the Romania loss, and held a team meeting in the locker room after that game without coach Serhiy Rebrov present to work out what went wrong. That was “absolutely normal,” the coach said Thursday.
— Slovakia is riding high after surprising Belgium 1-0 but needed two video reviews to overturn Belgium goals. One was deemed offside and a sensor in the ball detected a handball on the second.
— The Slovakians know not to get too excited by an opening win. At the last European Championship they beat Poland but then lost to Sweden and Spain and didn't advance. That meant there was only “a bit of euphoria for a few short hours” when Slovakia beat Belgium this time, coach Francesco Calzona said.
— Ukraine coach Rebrov indicated he will make changes to the lineup which lost to Romania. He also said some unnamed players were carrying “micro-injuries."
— Ukraine defender Vitaliy Mykolenko sustained severe bruising in a pre-tournament friendly with Moldova and was an unused substitute against Romania but was expected to train with the team Thursday evening, Rebrov said.
— One option for Rebrov could be to replace 34-year-old captain Taras Stepanenko with the 22-year-old Volodymyr Brazhko in defensive midfield. Brazhko debuted for the team only in March as Ukraine qualified for Euro 2024 through the playoffs.
— Slovakia coach Calzona says his players are all available but he has yet to decide on his starting lineup.
— The average age of Slovakia's starting lineup in the win over Belgium was over 30 as the team relied on the experience of two 37-year-olds, defender Peter Pekarik and Juraj Kucka, and the 35-year-old goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. Ukraine's players against Romania were on average four and a half years younger.
— The teams have a fairly even record, with three wins for Slovakia, two for Ukraine and three draws. Slovakia won their last game 4-1 in 2018.
— A second win would make history for Slovakia, which has never won more than one game in any tournament it's played as an independent nation. As part of Czechoslovakia, it did win the 1976 European Championship, though.
— “We want to turn the page and concentrate 100% on the Slovakia game... (The Romania game) is a very painful result for us but we need to learn the lessons and get ready for tomorrow’s game.” — Ukraine left back Oleksandr Zinchenko.
— “I think our greatest quality is humility. We know that we always need to give 110% because we’re a small nation and we always want to put a big smile on the faces of our fans and our people.” — Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona.
— “Ukraine has wonderful, young, talented players. They have a good system, they’re strong on the ball. ... We must play to the best of our abilities to be able to beat them.” — Slovakia defender David Hancko.
AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024
Ukraine's Mychajlo Mudryk sits on the pitch after a Group E match between Romania and Ukraine at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Munich, Germany, Monday, June 17, 2024. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)
Slovakia players celebrate after teammate Slovakia's Ivan Schranz scored the opening goal during the Group E match between Belgium and Slovakia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
NICE, France (AP) — With just three days to go until France's landmark legislative elections, the country’s far-right leader on Thursday raised the uncomfortable question of who would be in charge of the military if her party takes over the government after the two-round balloting.
The early elections are plunging France into uncharted territory, and political scientists are scrambling to interpret how exactly President Emmanuel Macron and a prime minister who is hostile to most of his policies would share power if Marine Le Pen's National Rally wins the majority in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.
Le Pen has repeatedly said that Jordan Bardella, her protegee and her party's star leader, would lead France's next government if their increasingly popular party wins. She suggested in an interview that Bardella, at just 28 and with no governing experience, would also take over at least some decisions on France's defense and its armed forces. Macron has three years to serve out his final term as president.
Serving as a commander-in-chief of the armed forces “is an honorary title for the president since it's the prime minister who actually pulls the strings,” Le Pen said in an interview with Le Télégramme newspaper published Thursday.
The French Constitution states that “the President of the Republic is the head of the armed forces" and also “chairs the councils and higher committees of national defense." However, the Constitution also states that “the prime minister is responsible for national defense.”
Constitutional experts say the exact role of prime minister in foreign policy and defense appears to be subject to interpretation. That's a question with potentially global fallout: France has nuclear weapons and its troops and military personnel have been deployed in many conflict zones around the world.
The last time France had a prime minister and a president from different parties, they broadly agreed on strategic matters of defense and foreign policy. But this time the power-sharing concept known in France as "cohabitation" could be very different, given the animosity between far-right and the far-left politicians. Both blocs appear to deeply resent the business-friendly, centrist president.
On the issue of the country's military command, political historian Jean Garrigues said that “the president is the head of the armed forces, (but) it's the prime minister who has the armed forces at his disposal."
In practice, he said this means that “if the president decided to send troops on the ground to Ukraine ... the prime minister would be able to block this decision.”
In March, Macron warned Western powers against showing any signs of weakness to Russia and said Ukraine’s allies shouldn’t rule out sending Western troops into Ukraine to help the country against Russia’s aggression.
Le Pen is confident that her party, which has a history of racism and xenophobia and ties to Russia, will be able to translate its stunning triumph at the elections for the European Parliament earlier this month into a victory in France.
Left-wing groups and antiracism and feminist activists rallied in Paris on Thursday to urge voters to keep the anti-immigration Nationally Rally from coming out on top.
The first round will take place on Sunday. The decisive second round is scheduled a week later, on July 7. The outcome remains uncertain because of a complex voting system and potential alliances.
Le Pen said Bardella, if named prime minister, would aim to be firm but not hostile to the serving president.
“Jordan has no intention of picking a fight with (Macron), but he has set red lines,” Le Pen said. She added: “On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops.”
Le Pen's argument that France’s highest office is essentially ceremonial puzzled some French observers, given her own presidential ambitions.
“If she’s trying to achieve the presidency, it sort of doesn’t make very much sense for her to appear to be wanting to cut down the president to a much smaller size in the field of defense,” said François Heisbourg, an analyst on defense and security questions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“And I think many French people will have great trouble understanding why she appears to want to unravel the institutions,'' he said.
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Sylvie Corbet in Brussels and John Leicester in Le Pecq, France contributed to this report.
French President Emmanuel Macron waits for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at the Elyseee Palace in Paris. Macron called snap elections following the defeat of his centrist alliance at European Union elections earlier this month. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)
