Ukraine edge closer to first finals
Thursday 31 March 2005
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Ukraine's Anatoliy Tymoshchuk in action against Denmark (©AFP)
By Igor Linnyk
Millions of Ukrainian football fans are beginning to believe that their dream is about to become a reality and that their country will make its first ever appearance in a major finals at the FIFA World Cup in Germany next year.
Automatic place
Wednesday's 1-0 win against Denmark in a crucial, tense, Group 2 qualifier in Kiev took Ukraine three points closer to winning the group and an automatic place in the finals. Ukrainians do not want to go through the nerve-shattering experience of the play-offs again after the heartbreak of losing at that stage before the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and the UEFA European Championship in 2000.
Destiny calling
At the moment, their destiny is in their own hands. Coach Oleh Blokhin has steered them to five wins and two draws in their seven qualifiers to date and they lead the section by three points from European champions Greece, with Turkey five adrift.
Down and out
Denmark, with only nine points from seven games, are almost down and out, while Albania (six points), Georgia (five) and Kazakhstan (none), will best use the remaining matches as preparation for the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers which will start in the autumn of next year.
Finals beckoning
But for Ukraine, everything is concentrated on this competition and victory in their next two qualifiers will take them even closer to a place in Germany. They next play Kazakhstan at home on 4 June before visiting Greece four days later, and as far as the local media are concerned, nothing is going to stop Ukraine now.
Shevchenko sidelined
One headline on Thursday screamed: "Bring on Berlin!" while another alluded to the fact that even without injured European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine are a fine team. As their opponents know only too well, Ukraine will be even better when he finally returns to action after recovering from a fractured cheekbone.
Mini-crisis
The man largely responsible for the growing feeling of optimism is Blokhin, who was back on the touchline on Wednesday after the mini-crisis that engulfed Ukrainian soccer in March. Because of complicated local rules, Blokhin, who is a member of the Ukraine parliament as well as the national coach, resigned and was then reinstated to his football job. After a series of high level meetings resulting in a ruling by a Court of Appeal, it was agreed he could continue to be both MP and coach which is just as well because he is clearly able to inspire his side when the going gets tough.
Slender victory
The margin of Wednesday's victory might have been a slender one – the only goal coming from Bayer 04 Leverkusen striker Andriy Voronin midway through the second half – but Ukraine were tactically superior to the Danes and largely dictated the play.
Decisive goal
Denmark had their chances, though, and forced Ukraine to spend most of the first half defending, but the home team started to look more and more threatening after the break, until eventually Oleh Gusev and Voronin created the decisive goal. Gusev's powerful shot rebounded back from the post for Voronin to score – off the same post. It sometimes takes luck to win matches too.
Huge party
Shevchenko watched the game together with president Viktor Yuschenko, who along with 80,000 people in the stadium and millions more around the country, believe that Ukraine will make it this time. It looks like soccer history is about to be made in Ukraine, and there will be one huge party on both banks of the river Dnipro if it is.
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