Congrats to Greece. You got the win, and you’re in. Otto Rehhagel’s style of football might not be for everyone, but it was enough to stifle Ukraine both home and away.

I wanted to thank the whole team for making it so much fun. Our 2009 team was a solid one – with a number of different personalities and talents. Thank-you Andriy Shevchenko, Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, Milevskiy, Tymoschuk, Nazarenko, Voronin, Pyatov, Gusev… the entire team. All of you made me very proud to call myself Ukrainian-Canadian. Its been a fantastic run.

EURO 2012 is just around the corner, and I’m already counting down the days. I’m really hoping that we’ll get to see some familiar 2009 faces (I’m not putting my Sheva jersey away just yet), but I’m also eager to see some new talent (our junior national teams have been showing a lot of promise). Don’t forget that this next EURO brings with it some magic words, “automatic qualification for host nations”… Let’s show the world what Ukrainians can do.

Cheers to the future!

Milevskiy, considering his options

A handful of notable attempts were made – two Andriy Shevchenko free kicks in the first 15 minutes – the first being the dangerous one – set an early tone for the Ukrainian attack. He was, however, frustratingly blanketed for most of the rest of the game, forced to play more of an assisting role for peers, quarterbacking with passes. During a bit of Greek defensive confusion, Ruslan Rotan miss-fired with a lot of net in front of him (Andriy Yarmolenko replaced Rotan in the 46th minute). Artem Milevskiy also sent a good opportunity over the Greek keeper Alexandros Tzorvas. In the 68th minute, Taras Mykhalyk fired a cracker, which Tzorvas was able to punch away. Ukraine looked good on the counter-attack, but seemed to hesitate in the box – and at my local Ukrainian sports club, a veteran fan told me “hesitate in the box, and you don’t score” – something they’ll have to consider in the home game. The team also seemed to disappoint when it came to set-pieces.

The Greek defenders made Sheva a priority.

Greek scoring sensation Theofanis Gekas had a couple chances, his best being a first-half header that had the Ukraine fans on the edge of their seats – Andriy Pyatov to the rescue. Gekas did score, but on an offside cross. The Ukrainian defense covered Gekas well, leading to his being replaced by Angelos Charisteas (and boos from some Greek fans). Late in the game, Kostas Mitroglou made his international debut. In the last real chance of the match (well into second-half added time), Greek defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos sent a header wide from a cross – but goals just weren’t meant to be.

There were a number of free kicks called either way, and fortunately none decided the outcome of the match.
I wish I had booked a weekend trip to Athens – match tickets were apparently available. Olympic Stadium’s upper bowl looked nearly empty. I’ve heard different numbers, but 50,000 seemed an optimistic tally for the number of fans in the 75,000 seat stadium – disappointing fan support for such an important fixture.

“Ukraine were very effective with their passing combinations and their attacking players were very good,” said Greek coach Otto Rehhagel. He expects to welcome back a few injured players that didn’t play in the first leg (see my previous blog).
After the match Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko was quoted “we tried to play on the counter attack and our game plan went well… (in the Wednesday match) both teams have an equal chance of going through although we do have a slight advantage because of the fact that we will be playing at home in the deciding game.”

Gambling site Will Hill’s odds on the Wed, Nov 18th second leg are Ukraine to win 4-5, draw 21-10, and a Greek victory at 3-1 – almost the reverse of odds ahead of the Athens fixture. Temperature looks to be 8 degrees C (not freezing), with a chance of rain. I’ve heard Shakhtar’s new 50,000-seat Donbass Arena is already sold out.
Welcome to Donetsk, Rehhagel, Gekas and team.

Good luck Ukraine. This really is it – win, and we’re in.

Ukrainian snipers

It’s going to be quite a match. In this fixture, most lines still slightly favor Greece, although Ukraine has been gaining some ground back recently. Will Hill (click link for current odds) favors Greece to win 23/20 as I’m writing this (vs draw 2/1 and a Ukraine win 21/10). By FIFA rankings, Greece ranks ahead of us (currently 16 vs 22).

So, what are we up against?:
First off, I’ve heard just how intimidating 75,000-seat Olympic Stadium can be… but I’m also hearing that it is expected to be less than half full.

Ukraine is missing a couple players due to injury (halfback Nazarenko and goalkeeper Shovkovskiy), but Greece is also dealing with a depleted squad, missing key defenders Giourkas Seitaridis and Vassilis Torossidis through injury – although both are expected to be ready for the Donetsk match on Wednesday. Missing both matches for the Greeks will be injured striker Giannis Amanatidis and defender Christos Patsatzoglou.
Aside – I’m hearing reports that Voronin asked Ukraine coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko to let him stay at Liverpool and fight for his place in the team (he’s getting his opportunity now with Torres and Gerrard both slowed due to injury). If that’s the case, then apologies for the ramblings in my previous blog – although I’m still certain he would like more pitch time.

FIFA’s latest column quotes Shevchenko telling reporters “I believe we have a slight advantage starting the showdown with Greece away in Athens… We should play in a very well-disciplined style there even if the hosts are ahead. The Greeks are skilled players. They are well-disciplined and are very dangerous on the counter-attacks.” He reminds us that “we have some positive experiences from playing Greece. We overcame them in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign. We won the group and a ticket to Germany.”

Mykhailychenko will be playing for the win, saying “We’re going to try to score goals in Greece.” He says he’s counting on his experienced fighters – “Shevchenko, Tymoshchuk, Milevskiy and Gusev.”

Wear your Yellow and Blue with pride on Saturday. This is it my friends - Go Ukraine!

Milevskiy and Yarmolenko - working hard, developing an appetite

Well, Andriy Voronin looks set to sit out the playoffs vs. Greece. And it appears injuries will also be keeping Dynamo goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy and Dnipro halfback Serhiy Nazarenko (our 2nd highest scorer in qualifiers) from joining the Yellow-Blues in Athens. The team is, however, welcoming back Barca defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Dnipro defender Andriy Rusol. Oleksiy Mykhailychenko also gives Karpaty halfback Igor Khydobiak for his first call-up.
Rumors have it that there might have been a bit of a row between Voronin and national coach Mykhailychenko. Press reports have the coach claiming “match fitness” as the issue, and Voronin hasn’t commented. Voronin’s obviously frustrated – and might have been putting a bit too much pressure on Oleksiy for pitch time. What should the coach do? When you prefer a more defensive attacking front combination, and Shevchenko and Milevskiy are producing, can you give a starting role away? His decisions so far have Ukraine in the World Cup playoffs.
Voronin has been quiet in Liverpool recently, despite Rafa Benitez giving him a chance – and Benitez desperately needs his fire right now, with Steven Gerrard sidelined indefinitely (and Torres not at full fitness). When firing, Voronin can be a game changer – loaned last year to Hertha Berlin, he scored 11 goals in 30 appearances, and helped put the team in contention to win the Bundesliga.
Voronin, score some goals in the premiership now (the Reds could benefit from a handful vs. Birmingham today), and help Liverpool out of its funk – and we’ll see you in South Africa next year.
This weekend’s domestic matches were all postponed as the team gathers and starts work at the Dynamo training camp in Koncha-Zaspa, building their appetite for some Greek sweets…

In a tough Group 6, we held for a couple dramatic ties against Croatia and posted a narrow away loss to England – in both the shark-infested waters of Zagreb and Wembley stadium. Belarussian conviction nearly ended our Ukrainian campaign early – a win in Minsk on Sept 9th could have saved us a lot of anxiety, but it wasn’t meant to be. It took a home victory (largely Internet-watched) over England in Dnipropetrovsk to vault our Yellow-Blues to second, from which they haven’t looked back.

Looking ready, in home kits

So here we sit, waiting for the final two playoff matches to prove ourselves worthy for our seat among the 13 European teams heading in to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. We’re down to the last 4 spots. Get ready for some fantastic football.

Things kick off on November 14th, and we’ve drawn an away-and-home series against Greece, the lowest-ranked of the seeded teams (16th in the world, FIFA). They are, however, a dangerous opponent – a EURO 2004 victory doesn’t happen by accident. We’ve all heard about Greek fans at home.

I like our chances, though. Why? The Yellow-Blues have shown poise under pressure, winning when it matters. On aggregate scoring, Ukraine beat both England and Croatia – two teams FIFA ranks consistently ahead of our next opponents. Ukraine only lost 1 game through Group 6 qualification – in fact, our Yellow-Blues averaged scoring 2.1 goals/game, only giving up an average of 0.6 (21 goals for, 6 goals against). Ukraine’s FIFA ranking has been gaining steam recently, with the team winning their last couple fixtures to bounce back up to 22nd (FIFA) worldwide. It wasn’t long ago we were 11th.

Our team has depth. Coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko has an impressive arsenal at his disposal, quarterbacked by the experienced Captain Andriy Shevchenko. Sheva has found his form again, improving with each Dynamo match. He’s showing great speed, skill and playmaking ability. Sheva is also becoming quite a partner for Artem Milevskiy – who’s turning heads as one of Europe’s emerging top assassins. But don’t forget about some of the rocket goals launched by recent Ukrainian footballer of the Year Serhiy Nazarenko (who’s netted 5 already). Anatoliy Tymoshchuk is as solid as he’s ever been in the mid-field. The team has such depth that other tigers, like Andriy Voronin, now have to patiently wait for their opportunities to hit the pitch.

Our next match is Greece on November 14th in Athens, followed by home turf – Donetsk – on the 18th. We control our World Cup fate… and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I’m sure most people will be looking for Germany to get vengence for us and Australia. On the other side, I just don’t see Portugal beating France, but if they do, good to them, they have never won a World Cup before, maybe it’s their year.

After Italy beat us and I watched France play, I realized it is going to be VERY difficult for Ukraine to qualify for Euro 2008, seeing as how those 2 teams are in our group and 2 teams from every group qualify.

We lost 3-0, but anyone that watched that game would agree that this score does not do us justice, it was a good game and could have been a lot closer. In the end, the better team won, they outplayed us in the first half and deserve all the respect for their victory. I wish Italy luck against Germany, you won the game without any controversy, it was undesputed that you got the best of team Ukraine.

I am happy about the way our boys played. They will no longer be known as Ukraine the debutants, but Ukraine the quarter finalists. Nobody really visioned Ukraine to win the world cup on their first try anyways, few saw us even getting to the quarter finals, but they acheived that. Our fans show some real class when they support their team with so much enthusiasm after a loss. The team showed class by bowing out and not making excuses, for example, not picking a fight with the Italians at the end of the game.

You may be asking why I chose the title of this blog to include the word “beginning” instead of “the end” (like other bloggers). This truly is the beginning of our international tournament football. We tested out the waters in this tournament and the water was good. We have much to look forward to, starting with the Euro 2008 up next and World Cup South Africa, 4 years from now. I’d like everyone to keep comming back here daily and maybe we’ll have a quick Euro 08 preview discussion (oh yes, Italy is in our qualification group). I wish this blog site wouldnt close and come to an end, I would talk about team Ukraine year round, because theres always something happening every 3-4 months.

In the meantime, I’m gonna be following the rest of the world cup and maybe blogging some “Ukrainian opinion” on the remaining games :O)

Personally, I’d like to see Germany take it.

Tomorrow, the game which decides our destiny begins. No matter what happens, I want everyone to be proud of Ukraine’s accomplishments, our team got to the quarter finals and few saw that comming. If we bow out now, we bow out showing the world we are a competitor and are to be taken seriously. Having said that, although I’m ready for a disapointment if it comes, I’m still very nervous, as are many Ukrainian fans all over the world I’m sure. We know our team has the strength to ‘play with the big boys’. Ukraine can win this game, they need Shevhcenko to show us that he is worth over $50 million, they need Shovkovskiy to continue his perfect record, they need our midfield to play as they did against Switzerland, their defense will now be at full power as our key defenders return to the pitch. All the ingredients are there, we’re all confident it might and yet nervous that it might not.

Unfortunately, I made an error in the previous blog, I have discovered that
Voronin will no longer be with us on our road to glory.

but never fear my fellow Ukrainians, because Milevskiy will shine in his place !