Romanchuk conquers Ukraine ranks

Uncapped FC Arsenal Kyiv youngster Olexandr Romanchuk has been named in Ukraine's 23-man squad for the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers against Italy and Scotland next month.

U21 graduate
Defender Romanchuk was ever-present in Ukraine's progress to the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship this summer, his performances in Portugal and at the start of the season for Arsenal Kyiv catching the eye of Oleh Blokhin. The experienced coach will be without Serhiy Rebrov, Ruslan Rotan and Serhiy Tkachenko through injury, however, as Ukraine look to build on their opening 3-2 Group B victory against Georgia. They face Italy in Rome on 7 October before returning to Kiev to take on Scotland four days later.

Ukraine squad
Goalkeepers: Olexandr Shovkovskiy (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Bohdan Shust (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Vyacheslav Kernozenko (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk).

Defenders: Andriy Nesmachniy (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Olexandr Kucher (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Vyacheslav Sviderskiy (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Rusol (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Volodymyr Yezerskiy (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Bohdan Shershun (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Olexandr Romanchuk (FC Arsenal Kyiv).

Midfielders: Olexiy Gay (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleh Gusev (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Anatoliy Tymoschuk (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Maxym Kalinichenko (FC Spartak Moskva), Serhiy Nazarenko (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Oleh Shelayev (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Husin (FC Krylya Sovetov Samara), Olexandr Rykun (FC Metalist Kharkiv).

Forwards: Olexiy Bielik (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Vorobey (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Voronin (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Artem Milevskiy (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea FC).