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Ukraine Kit 1 |
Ukraine Kit 2 |
This year's World Cup features the highest number of debutant teams since the 1930s, with Ukraine one of the 8 teams taking their first tentative steps onto the world stage (Czech Republic, Serbia & Montenegro, Angola, Cote D' Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Trinidad & Tobago being the others). Not that this is necessarily a curse - there have been seven debut teams in the last five World Cups to go beyond the group stages, most notably with Croatia, who qualified at Ukraine's expense, landing in the semis at France 98. The question is can Shevchenko prove to be the Suker of this year's tournament?
World Cup Group: H
Saudi Arabia
(19/6)
Spain (14/6)
Tunisia (23/6)
Ukraine
How on earth did they get here?
Formed after the split from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine played its first international in April 1992, a 2-2 draw with Hungary. The youngest team going to Germany (just pipping Serbia & Montenegro which formed as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a day before Ukraine's first international and just changed its name last year), its first attempt at major competition came in 1994 to qualify for Euro 96 but, as with subsequent attempts until now, this ended in defeat in the playoffs.
Certainly one of the most capable of this year's debutants, Oleg Blokhin's men were the first European team to qualify for thetournament (barring hosts Germany of course), finishing top of a none too shabby group that included Turkey, Denmark and wait, this is still weird, current European Champions Greece. Their only loss in the qualifiers came at the hands of Turkey, but by that point they were already through and it didn' t matter.
Qualifying Results
4-9-04 Denmark 1-1 Ukraine
8-9-04 Kazakhstan 1-2 Ukraine
9-10-04 Ukraine 1-1 Greece
13-10-04 Ukraine 2-0 Georgia
17-11-04 Turkey 0-3 Ukraine
9-2-05 Albania 0-2 Ukraine
30-3-05 Ukraine 1-0 Denmark
4-6-05 Ukraine 2-0 Kazakhstan
8-6-05 Greece 0-1 Ukraine
3-9-05 Georgia 1-1 Ukraine
7-9-05 Ukraine 0-1 Turkey
8-10-05 Ukraine 2-2 Albania
The man in charge
Oleg Blokhin took charge in 2004 after Ukraine failed to qualify for Euro 2004 and led them successfully into the World Cup.
A hero in his home country, Blokhin has a pretty full trophy cabinet after a hugely successful career with Dynamo Kiev including medals from seven former USSR league titles and two European Cup Winners Cups, as well as the first ever prize for European footballer of the year. He's been to the World Cup as a player twice for the Soviet Union, in Spain in 1982 and again in Mexico in 1986.
And if there aren' t enough heroics there for you, he's doing it all for free. Yup, he's not getting paid a single Hryvnia for coaching the team. Ukrainian law forbids anyone from holding two official positions and Blokhin is a prominent MP. How's he gotten round it? Well, a loophole has allowed him to lead the national side into the World Cup on condition that he isn' t paid. How's that for commitment?
AC Milan striker and 2004 European Footballer of the Year Andriy Schevchenko is the obvious one everyone will be watching, scoring in 6 of the 12 qualifying games. He's going to be ably assisted by Bayer Leverkusen's Andrey Voronin and Andriy Vorobay of Shaktar Donetsk, a frontline with devastating potential.
Aside from Shev, we've got to look at the other end of the pitch for true star potential. Despite having three months out with a broken collarbone earlier in the year and fears that he wouldn't make the squad, it looks like keeper Oleksander Shovkosky will prove as vital as he did to the qualifying campaign where the lack of goals conceded was key. An excellent shot stopper, he kept six clean sheets and only let in seven in qualifying - the whole nation let out a sigh of relief when he got back between the sticks in April.
How will they do?
Their first major tournament as a national team since forming in 1992, Ukraine's main objective was to qualify and having achieved that obviously sights have been set higher.
An away trip to Turkey in the qualifiers saw them beat the 2002 semi-finalists 0-3, showing that they are a more than capable team.
It would be a big shock and a disappointment for the tournament if they were to go out in the first round, and looking at their group I think we can safely say that knockout football is odds on. Once it reaches the second round anything can happen and the quarter finals are certainly not out of the question
Pub Quiz facts in brief
Nickname: Zbirna
Coach: Oleg Blokhin
Founded: 1992
Biggest win: Ukraine 4-0 Georgia (1998), Ukraine 4-0 Andorra (1999)
Biggest defeat: Croatia 4-0 Ukraine (1993)
World Cup appearances: 1st in 2006
European Championships appearances: 0
Highest home attendance in qualifying stages: 65,000 vs Greece
Highest win in qualifying stages: Turkey 0-3 Ukraine
Top scorer: Andriy Schevchenko (28)
Most caps: Serhiy Ribrov (68).
"The Ukrainian national players are good, but the team they
make is not harmonious. The weak point I think is that they lack
ambition and set low goals. They are happy they are in the World Cup and it seems like they already achieved what they wanted. If
Shevchenko's loyalty to his National team doesn't surpass all his
excuses to avoid the active game, going out of the group is the
biggest thing they can do."
Valentyna Stohova, 24, Lutsk, Ukraine
Goalkeepers Oleksander Shovkovsky (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy
Pyatov (Vorskla Poltava), Bogdan Shust (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Defenders Andriy Nesmachny (Dynamo Kiev), Vladyslav Vashchyuk
(Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Fyodorov (Dynamo Kiev), Volodymyr Yesersky
(Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Rusol (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Dmytro
Chigrinsky (Shakhtar Donetsk), Vyacheslav Svidersky (Arsenal Kiev)
Midfielders Anatoly Tymoshchyuk (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleg
Gusiev (Dynamo Kiev), Ruslan Rotan (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Nazarenko
(Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Oleg Shelayev (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk),
Andriy Husin (Krylya Sovietov Samara), Maxim Kalinichenko (Spartak
Moscow)
Forwards Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan), Andriy Voronin (Bayer
Leverkusen), Serhiy Rebrov (Dynamo Kiev), Artyom Milevsky (Dynamo
Kiev), Andriy Vorobei (Shakhtar Donetsk), Olexiy Belik (Shakhtar
Donetsk)