The Kazakhs hung tough for most of the first half against England on Saturday, before finally succumbing to the superior class of the Three Lions and falling to a 4-0 defeat. Kazakhstan frustrated the visitors with relentless pressuring of the ball, but the tactic took its toll and England took advantage when the hosts ran out of gas. With fatigue from that match still a factor, Kazakhstan will likely adapt a more static defensive strategy for their visit to Kiev. It will be up to Ukraine to put together intelligent attacking moves and open up the Kazakh defense. Along with three points, a 4 goal differential separates Ukraine from second place Croatia in Group Six, and this match is an opportunity to erase both deficits. A minimal victory would be considered a disappointment.

Mykhaylichenko held a press conference yesterday in which he confirmed Shevchenko would miss Wednesday’s match. Sheva has a small ligament tear and will not resume training for at least two weeks. The manager was asked about his choice to replace the captain with Yevhen Seleznyov during the Croatia match, and whether fellow striker Andriy Voronin was upset about not being used:

We have six forwards, and the choice of the striker pairing comes down to tactics. Everyone has a chance to get on the pitch. But we are a team, and if someone does not understand that they should not bother showing up. Even the unused substitutes are part of the team. Voronin understands that we need him, so he will wait for his opportunity.

Andriy Pyatov did not have his best showing between the pipes in Zagreb, and Mykhaylichenko was asked if he has considered a goalkeeping change:

No conclusions have been made based on the last match. There was a series of team mistakes, free kicks conceded, players allowed to get to rebounds. I don’t see a point in blaming just the keeper, even though goalkeeping mistakes are more visible. The starter will be selected based on physical and psychological condition. I will not speculate on what tomorrow brings.

In the first encounter between the teams, Ukraine earned a 3-1 victory through a Serhiy Nazarenko brace as well as a goal from Sheva. While Ukraine will be without their captain, the Kazakhs will be missing their scorer from the first match, Sergei Ostapenko. With Seleznyov failing to impress against Croatia, speculations abound as to who will start up front on Wednesday. Mykhaylichenko dismissed the possibility of a media-suggested Volodymyr Homenyuk/Oleksandr Kovpak pairing up front, paving the way for Voronin to make his return alongside Artem Milevskiy. With Voronin’s club future in limbo as he prepares to return to Liverpool, the striker will be eager to finally make an impact on the international stage and raise his European profile.

Ukraine has proved it can compete with the top teams in Europe with their workmanlike displays at England and Croatia. Now it is time to show we do not take lesser opponents lightly and give the maximum effort against Kazakhstan. There is a strong possibility that goal differential will come into play to decide who moves on from Group Six. A big result will be there for the taking on Wednesday, and it is time for Ukraine’s attackers to step up and take center stage.

Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko took a gamble by putting several players in the first eleven who had recently flown below the national team radar. Just as he had at Wembley when he started the Metalist Kharkiv pair of Valentyn Slyusar and Serhiy Valyayev, the manager went with a midfielder from an in form club when he selected Shakhtar’s Oleksiy “He Is Not Your Buddy,” Gai to partner Anatoliy Tymoschuk in the center. With his pool of creative midfielders weakened by the injury to Oleksandr Aliyev, Mykhaylichenko had to pick two out of a trio of Dnipro players, and he chose Ruslan Rotan over Maksym Kalynychenko to play on the flank opposite Serhiy Nazarenko. Perhaps in the biggest surprise, Dynamo Kyiv’s Vitaliy Mandzyuk was included over incumbent right back Hrygory Yarmash. Mykhaylichenko’s instincts proved correct, as all three players more than held their own.

Croatia’s opener came so quickly Ukraine must have felt they started the match a goal down. But the visitors did not panic and sought to maintain possession while searching for a route up the pitch. And at the first sight of goal Ukraine were level through Andriy Shevchenko. After dropping back in the buildup, Sheva made a true center forward’s run from outside box to get on the end of Rotan’s cross and hammer the ball into the net. The instinct and determination he showed in sprinting for the spot were he anticipated the ball would arrive are still unmatched among his compatriots. The motivational effect of Sheva was on full display as Ukraine took control, moving the ball and attacking with confidence it has rarely shown against opponents of Croatia’s caliber. And just like that, Sheva was gone, pulling up lame just twenty minutes in and seemingly taking the momentum to the bench with him.

During Ukraine’s surge Artem Milevskiy appeared to be tripped while controlling the ball in the area, but referee Terje Hauge was not interested in awarding a penalty to the Dynamo striker. The Norwegian official redeemed himself when he did not fall for Darijo Srna’s attempt to trick his way into a spot kick. A lesser referee may have been fooled when Srna kicked out his leg to make contact with a defender as he went to ground. But Hauge saw through the Croatian captain’s elaborate acting job and produced a yellow card for simulation.

In the second half Ukraine took the lead through an unlikely source, as Gai beat his marker at the near post to head in Nazarenko’s free kick delivery. And for a stretch things looked positive for Mykhaylichenko’s crew, as they stymied Croatia and looked set to take advantage of the space created as the hosts pushed forward. But while Croatia seemed out of ideas in open play, they gathered themselves when the ball was stopped and found ways to open up Ukraine’s defense. A free kick taken short gave Luka Modric the ball in space, and following a one-two combination the little pest was in on goal, his deflected shot looping over the helpless Andriy Pyatov and into the net. With the score at 2-2 Ukraine was content to try and hold on to a point, and the tactic almost proved disastrous. A team can afford to sit back when it possesses the threat of a counter, but with poor interplay between the front players and no pace to speak of, the visitors were setting themselves up for an assault. Paying no respect to Ukraine’s attacking capabilities, Croatia stormed Pyatov’s goal, and were only denied by the woodwork before running out of time.

Overall Ukraine put in a much better performance than when the teams met in Kharkiv last fall. They held the ball well, put together a few offensive moves, and capitalized on a set piece. But some of the same shortcomings remain, and they have to be addressed before Ukraine faces their next serious Group Six foe when they travel to Belarus in September. While Milevskiy and Shevchenko showed a glimpse of a promising partnership, Sheva’s replacement Yevhen Seleznyov did little to justify his appearance on the pitch. Seleznyov simply did not appear ready to play, immediately getting booked for entering the field without the referee’s permission. With Mykhaylichenko putting so much weight on club form, it is surprising he chose to bring Seleznyov over Oleksandr Hladky, who has been ahead of Seleznyov on the Shakhtar depth chart. In any case, Milevskiy needs a running mate with good positional sense and high workrate off the ball, qualities that Seleznyov has not demonstrated. If Sheva is out, Andriy Voronin should get the next start up front.

The end result was exactly what Ukraine was after in Zagreb. They can now pull level with Croatia by picking up three points against Kazakhstan in Kiev on Wednesday. Ukraine has the more favorable qualifying home stretch compared to their rivals. Croatia still has two matches to play against Belarus, as well as a trip to Wembley remaining, while Ukraine plays Belarus once more and face England on home soil. As long as we take the points we are supposed to get, the goal of reaching South Africa 2010 will remain within reach.

Football is a young man’s game, and nowhere is it more apparent than on the international level. Walking away from your national team at 30 is becoming the norm rather than an exception. Players trying to squeeze a few more years out of their club careers cannot handle the added workload. Witness England’s Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher, or the recent departure of Andriy Nesmachniy from Ukraine’s setup. Sure, there are the likes of TnT’s Dwight Yorke or the recently recalled by Mexico Cuauhtémoc Blanco, but their presence is a reflection of the state of their respective sides rather than their abilities. A European team cannot be carried by 30+ year old legs, and France’s woeful display at Euro 2008 is a case in point.

With that in mind, lets take a look at Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko’s current squad, and how old those players will be when Ukraine hosts the European Championship in 2012. I have included several players who were not called up for this week’s matches but figure to play a part in the immediate future:

Oleksandr Shovkovskiy GK 37
Andriy Shevchenko F 36
Valentyn Slyusar M 35
Andriy Voronin F 34
Yevhen Levchenko M 34
Serhiy Valyayev M 34
Anatoliy Tymoschuk M 33
Vyacheslav Shevchuk D 33
Maksym Kalynychenko M 33
Serhiy Nazarenko M 32
Ruslan Rotan M 31
Oleksandr Kucher D 30
Oleksiy Gai M 30
Rustam Khudzhamov GK 30
Andriy Rusol D 29
Taras Mykhalyk D 29
Oleh Husyev M 29
Serhiy Kravchenko M 29
Marko Devic F 29
Stanyslav Bohush GK 29
Mykola Ischenko D 29
Oleksandr Kovpak F 29
Andriy Pyatov GK 28
Denys Golaydo M 28
Artem Milevskiy F 27
Oleksandr Aliyev M 27
Hrygory Yarmash D 27
Yevhen Seleznyov F 27
Volodymyr Homenyuk F 27
Dmytro Chyhrynskiy D 26
Bohdan Shust GK 26
Vitaliy Mandzyuk D 26
Oleh Dopilka D 26
Oleksandr Hladky F 25
Vitaliy Fedoriv D 25
Pavlo Pashaiv D 24
Artem Kravets F 23

Shevchenko and Voronin are already struggling to make an impact for club and country, respectively, and I am not enough of an optimist to expect them to contribute in three years. Tymoschuk is still at the peak of his powers, but how much of his legendary workrate will he retain at 33? In all, eight players who started for Ukraine at Wembley in April will be on the wrong side of 30 by the time Ukraine/Poland 2012 rolls around. No more than a couple of them will be in the squad, let alone the first eleven, by then. So the international careers of a footballing generation hinge on Ukraine getting a result in Zagreb. No pressure, boys, none at all.

Like Rooney, Aliyev is a player whose reputation precedes him. In England Aliyev is probably best remembered for his “play dead” routine against Arsenal, and a red card later in that match. Groomed from a young age as a wunderkind footballer, the Dynamo Kyiv midfielder has run into trouble on and off the pitch. He tends to let his competitiveness take over his decision making process, which sometimes leads to brilliance but also contributes to acts that lets just say society frowns upon. I am sure Shrek can relate. In an interview with the Ukrainian tabloid Blik, Aliyev discussed the Wednesday incident with the England striker:

The shin guards saved my leg, or he would have broken it for sure. I was looking for some payback, but the right opportunity never came up. I’ll be sure to make it up to him in Dnepropetrovsk.

As for the match itself, Aliyev thought Peter Crouch did well as the target man for the Three Lions, and the attention he drew may have been responsible for the set piece lapses that let down Ukraine. Asked about the late free kick opportunity, Aliyev admitted he wanted to have a go, but “so did Sheva, and seniority has the right of way.”

Mykhaylichenko got his tactics spot on, and I am not just saying that because he picked virtually the same lineup I was hoping to see. Despite the presence of such luminaries as the in-from Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, England created no real chances from open play. And I mean zero, none at all. Rooney attempted an overhead kick early in the match but proved that he is no Peter Crouch. And despite buzzing around dangerously for most of the match, Shrek could do no better than one other attempt at goal pulled hopelessly wide from a sharp angle. For his part Gerrard was virtually invisible until his contribution to the second England goal. And the credit has to go to Mykhaylichenko and the trio of midfielders who destroyed everything the hosts tried to build in the center of the pitch. Anatoliy Tymoschuk was immense as usual, always in the right spot to deny a passing lane or a path to the goal, and the Metalist Kharkiv pair of Serhiy Valyayev and Valentyn Slyusar did a nice job of playing off the captain and cleaning up the garbage. It was a shame neither found any opportunities to contribute to the attack, but they accomplished their primary objective.

Ukraine’s back line has been hamstrung for some time by the lack of quality fullbacks. Vyacheslav Shevchuk had the unenviable task of keeping tabs on Aaron Lennon, and always seemed like he was on the verge of getting skinned. Hrygory Yarmash benefited from the relentless pursuit by our central midfielders in his battle with Gerrard, but he just does not appear to have enough talent for this level. At 24 there is a possibility Yarmash still has some room to develop, but to me he does not look like the long term answer at right back. As for the center backs, Taras Mykhalyk and Dmytro Chyhrynsky would have had a story to tell their grand kids about how they kept out mighty England if both of them didn’t get beat on the fateful set pieces.

Ukraine’s attack was never going to shine in this match, mostly due to the defensive effort required from the midfielders. Andriy Voronin once again never got into the match, and I would chalk this up under “same old story” if he hadn’t gotten his nose broken by John Terry’s albatross-like arm flail. While it may seem like a superficial injury, I can tell you from personal experience that playing with a broken nose is no picnic. You can’t breathe properly, it’s in the back of your head any time you have to go up for a ball, and it just plain hurts. So Voronin gets a pass from me on this day. Artem Milevskiy found out the hard way that latching onto a ball with Terry or Rio Ferdinand breathing down your neck is not as easy as it is in the UPL. And Gareth Barry’s constant fouls on the Dynamo Kyiv forward going unpunished did not help matters. Oleksandr Aliyev did not accomplish much in his playmaker role, but he did come to life when Serhiy Nazarenko was brought on to help, and his free kick delivery did lead to our goal.

This is where I issue my apology to Andriy Shevchenko: Dear Sheva, I am sorry I ever doubted you. You can still poke the ball in from seven yards out with the best of them. And there was that one time when you got the ball out on the flank and managed to get it to Tymoschuk in a shooting position. Now if you move to a club that is interested in you for your game and not how many shirts you can sell, and you get your butt out on the pitch every week, I will stand up for you once again. P.S. Stop pulling rank on free kicks! I know you got that one on target, but Aliyev can actually score from there.

The goals England put in the Ukraine net were carbon copies of each other: far post cross, England player climbs on the back of the defender to knock it down in the six yard box, where a breakdown in marking leads to an easy tap in. In the first half it was Terry beating Mykhalyk to set up Crouch, and on the decider it was Gerrard who towered over Milevskiy to knock the ball down for his captain. Ukraine defended well on similar situations throughout the match, which is what makes the second lapse that much more frustrating. But these are correctable mistakes, and our set piece defense should be a strength in the long run.

Ukraine will now battle for the second spot in Group Six with Croatia, making the June encounter in Zagreb that much more crucial. We will need at least a draw on the Croats home turf to stay in the race, but after that the situation is essentially a tossup. I have a feeling that goal differential is going to play a part in the end, so it will be important for Ukraine to get its attack sorted out for the likes of Andorra and Kazakhstan. Belarus looked very good in their last match and may play spoiler for one of the main contenders, or perhaps even make a push for qualification themselves. With more than half the matches still to play, it promises to be a wild race.

And one more thing. I realize it was close, and the officials aren’t perfect, but by the letter of the law on the winning goal *Terry*


*was*


*offside!*

In many respects Wednesday’s World Cup 2010 qualifier at Wembley is a “nothing to lose” proposition for the Ukraine national team. Their opponent has been anointed as the expected winner of Group Six by fans and pundits alike. And why not, with England having claimed maximum points, including a convincing 4-1 with in Zagreb last fall, almost halfway through the campaign. So common logic puts Ukraine in a battle with Croatia for second place and a spot in the playoff. Both sides are on 7 points, 5 back of England, but Ukraine has a match in hand, and a loss tomorrow does no serious damage to their chances of advancing. By contrast, even a single point earned against the leaders would put the pressure squarely on Croatia, who would have to match the feat or beat Ukraine in June to gain the upper hand. And if Ukraine learns from Croatia’s mistakes, a draw is certainly achievable.

England’s win in Croatia was hailed as the rebirth of the team, with much of the praise heaped on current savior Fabio Capello. But I would argue that most of the credit should have gone to their opponents. After handling England twice during Euro 2008 qualifiers, Slaven Bilic’s side was overconfident and abandoned the tactics that had served them so well in the previous encounters. They went toe to toe with the Brits and attacked without fear. Naturally they got caught completely out of shape on defense, gave up a goal and allowed England to play on the counter the rest of the way, setting the stage for the Theo Walcott Invitational Track Race. Walcott will not be around to torment Ukraine’s pace-challenged back line, but rest assured that if we gift England a sloppy first goal like the Croats did, the outcome will be similar. However when decent defensive-minded sides have forced England to produce attacking quality in recent years, the Three Lions have responded with barely a “meow”. And for all of our shortcomings Ukraine certainly has the ability to build a brick wall in front of our net.

Despite the uncertainty caused by injuries to the front line, it is pretty easy to guess the lineup that Capello will trot out on Wednesday. Playing at home he pretty much has to use two strikers or risk the wrath of the Wembley faithful. Playing Steven Gerrard in tandem with Wayne Rooney would seem like a good idea, except that besides the Scouser King there is no one else to occupy the left side of midfield. That leaves the not 100% fit Peter Crouch as the only remaining option up front. England’s eleven will look like this:

—————————David James———————
-Johnson——-Ferdinand—–Terry—–Ashley Cole-
-Lennon———-Lampard——-Barry——–Gerrard–
———————————–Rooney——————-
—————————-Crouch———————-

and in a perfect world Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko would counter with:

———————————Milevskiy———————-
-Nazarenko—————-Slyusar——————-Aliyev–
———————-Valyaev—–Tymoschuk—————–
-Shevchuk——-Chyhrynsky—–Mykhalyk—-Yarmash-
—————————Andriy Pyatov———————

I think a three man midfield wrecking crew is a perfect recipe for this match. With most of the play expected to be in the Ukraine half of the pitch, having three physical, high work rate players clogging up the middle will make life miserable for the English attack. Playing with two holders would give the backs more margin for error as they can close down on the ball knowing help will always be coming from the center. While they have not logged many minutes with the national team, Valentyn Slyusar and Serhiy Valyayev have enjoyed excellent club form, and their chemistry on the pitch is no small factor.

Keys To The Match:
1. Wind Up Rooney. He is by far the biggest England threat, and historically the best way to stop him is to let him hit the self-destruct button. Ukraine is certain to play a very physical style, and Rooney should be the primary target. From the very beginning, wherever he gets the ball, there should be a center back between him and the goal and a defensive midfielder charging in looking to separate his feet from his ankles. Bracket Rooney all over the pitch, knock him down, piss him off, and he is bound to fall out of the match mentally. Cynical tactics for a cynical player.
2. Gerrard Outside, Lennon Inside. Gerrard is one of the best players in the world when he is running through the center of the pitch, and merely a very good one near the touchline, so force him wide. Give him the flank, let him cross with his left, anything except allowing him to cut in on his right foot. The opposite goes for Aaron Lennon, who is at his best with his heels on the paint. Force him inside into the teeth of the defense where his poor decision making in traffic will work against him.
3. Stop The Fullbacks. In my opinion the biggest strength of this England squad is the pace and endurance of their side backs, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson. If they are allowed to get forward and make overlapping runs in the final third, Ukraine will be in big trouble. It is up to our counterattack to keep them honest. If they get caught up field when Ukraine wins possession, we should look for Artem Milevskiy to receive the long outlet near either sideline, where he can hold up the ball waiting for help to arrive. With a central defender forced out wide to cover Milevskiy, there is going to be a lot of space for our wing players or central midfielders if they are able to beat their opponents up the pitch.

Of course, my biggest fear is that Mykhaylichenko bows to the pressure and plays the Sheva+10 model which hasn’t worked for us since before the 2006 World Cup. But with the right personnel decisions Ukraine can cause problems for England. Milevskiy deserves to start this match, and there is no argument about that from anyone who has paid attention to the top Ukrainian forwards this season. I would save Andriy Voronin for the final half hour or so, when his direct style may actually work against the tiring defenders. But a result can be had even if Ukraine fails to score, and yes, a boring nil nil draw is a result as far as I am concerned. The symbol of our national team is a stout defense, and not an out of form super striker. Hold England at Wembley, and that image would be strengthened to the point that teams would come into matches against us not expecting to score.

Emile Heskey opened the scoring early on for the Three Lions, but had to be substituted just a quarter hour in when he re-aggravated a lingering Achilles injury. His replacement Carlton Cole did not make it to the end of the first half, needing to be stretchered off. Things didn’t work out much better for his sub Peter Crouch, who left the pitch in obvious discomfort midway through the second half. Luckily for England they still have Rabid Shrek, er… I mean Wayne Rooney, to carry the scoring load. Rooney scored a second half brace to put the result beyond doubt, but England’s performance was far from convincing. The hosts were sloppy in defense in the absence of Rio Ferdinand, and Slovakia forced David James into some top notch saves while the tie was still in the balance. If the same England shows up on Wednesday, Ukraine has an opportunity for a famous result.

Update: Heskey has been ruled out for Wednesday’s match. Capello has called up Tottenham striker Darren Bent in response to Saturday’s casualties.

We had scheduled a test match before the qualifier, but I canceled it because I felt the leading (Ukrainian) clubs have had a heavy workload of late and the players were emotionally spent. Time will tell whether it is the right decision.

I hope to avoid a repeat of the Croatia match. We will try to show a good game because I think it would improve our chances, but our goal is to get a result first and foremost. We have a lot of young players in the squad and a positive outcome would give them a lot of confidence. It is a battle for the group lead, and we still have every chance to finish in first place. Perhaps I am wrong…

On his strikers playing abroad:

If we see the necessary preparedness from Andriy Voronin in camp, we will try to get the most out of him. A player must be able to adjust from club to international play without losing his best qualities. Andriy Shevchenko has featured very little (for Milan) this season because of injuries and poor form. But he brings a great deal of experience and desire, and I think he will be a positive influence on players like Artem Kravets.

It is hard to argue with Mykhaylichenko’s latest personnel decisions, though Kravchenko’s absence from his plans has become an unwelcome side effect of the midfielder’s winter move to the UPL leaders from Vorskla Poltava. However the manager is taking a big risk by foregoing a tune-up match, and the blame will be laid at his feet if the team is not on the same page against England on Wednesday. The only conceivable reason to go straight from the training ground into Wembley Stadium would be to conceal a new formation or tactical approach in hopes of springing a surprise on the hosts.

For his part Fabio Capello will probably lay his cards on the table when his team faces Slovakia in a Saturday friendly. Capello will hope to have his side fully fit for the qualifier but there are concerns over striker Peter Crouch and winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, both of whom have missed training sessions. Tottenham defender Ledley King, a surprise addition to the squad, has been allowed to return home because of concerns over his chronically injured knee. The full roster for the Three Lions:

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham United), Ben Foster (Manchester United)

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott (all Everton), Ashley Cole, John Terry (both Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Matthew Upson (West Ham United).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), David Beckham (AC Milan), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool).

Forwards: Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Crouch (Portsmouth), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).