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 !

So we are in the quarter finals. Every step of this tournament is unknown territory for us and we have already achieved what we came to do. However, as one of the guys said in a comment previously; “we are just 3 wins from the World Cup”. Of course it is pausible, every team has as good of a shot to win matches as every other team. Italy are favourites, but so were the Swiss.

Italy’s Alessandro Nesta is confident he will return to play for the Azzurri again in this World Cup but will not be ready until the semi-finals.

The semi finals of WHAT ?

Well, I think I woulda prefered him to play, as Shevchenko knows him well and would be able to dance circles around him, but that won’t happen. There are a few other players Italy fears they will be missing, mostly in the defense I understand. Also, there was rumor of Voronin being out for the game ? I don’t think thats true as I have not read anything saying this.

Voronin: “We were the underdogs and we had nothing to lose - and that’s how we played. We are not afraid of them. We have nothing to lose - just two matches to go and then we are in the final. It’s all happening very quickly. We did not play well (against Switzerland) - but we are in the quarter-finals. It will be a tough match.”

Rebrov: Asked whether Ukraine could win the World Cup, Rebrov, a substitute against the Swiss, said: “I don’t know. I didn’t think so before but now I am beginning to think maybe we can. Everything is possible now.

Sheva: “We want to put on a show. Italy have a good team with great players and they are always favourites. But we are difficult to beat. We have quality players. We can keep the ball and change our rhythm.”

Our boys are up for the challenge. Yes, it is pausible now for us to aim at the World Cup trophy itself. The team has built up confidence in their wins and are ready for that re-match with Italy to finish what we started in the friendly game before the Cup.

UK-RA-YI-NA !!

oh and by the way, we have full backing support from the Aussies :O)

When I see a team winning by a goal, I see that as a cushion and can easily sit back and watch this game without much nerve racking. This was a game where eveyone felt the first goal would be the only goal and would win the game. It was very stressfull to watch, on the edge of the seat suspsense. This was the feeling felt throughout all the Ukrainian and Swiss homes out there, all the bars/pubs out there. A game’s peak of drama is penalty kicks and this game went into them. Eventually somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. I enjoyed the challenge of the Swiss, my favorite thing I will take back after that game is that Switzerland truely lives up to their reputation as peacefull people. I’m talking about their fans. The fans were very noble about their loss I really respect that. Fans must learn not only how to accept a victory, but also, how to accept a defeat. I hope Ukrainian fans will be showing such class if we are knocked out, no matter what happens, no matter how unfair the referee. This World Cup in particular is getting somewhat pathetic by the responses of some of the fans and journalists.

Having said that, we won, we deserved to win, we showed just how dominant we can be in the midfield area, this is something the Italians will need to start scratching their heads about. Ukraine is picking up more and fans as we get further. The Australians are somewhat unsatisfied with the result of their game with Italy and are crying out for Ukraine to seek vengence on them. At this stage, we are on the top 8 best football nations in the world and therefore we have a good chance against Italy. I expect Ukraine to play at their best. I am satisfied that they made it to the quarter finals in their first World Cup, they cannot disapoint me anymore, but of course I hope for a victory, as another fan said in this blog, we are 3 games away from the World Cup.

There was so much filth in the comments of my blog entry after the match. So I decided to collect a few comments that seemed worth reading and did not contain any stupid racism and stupidity.

Miguelinho |

To guys who said it was a bad game from Ukraine: Did you watch it on ESPN. If so, the commentators cheated you. Yes, there were no goals - and it’s true that Americans think soccer is boring without goals. The commentators were unjust to the game - both did well, but Ukraine set up more incisive attacks and controlled the tempo in the 2nd half.

Blokhin’s plan was good, and the plan worked! Ukraine DID have good attacks. Both teams hit the crossbar in the first half, and Gusiev’s header in the 2nd just swiped the paint on the post! Many times, the game went end to end. Of course, there was not too much drama because the Mexican referee wanted to be on FIFA’s good side after Ivanov’s performance yesterday. He should have given about 4 more yellow cards - most to the Swiss. I think they were really taking advantage of his leniency. By my count, the guy who kept taking out Nesmachniy should have collected 2 yellows for sure. But that’s life…

I love this team! They recovered after Spain, and they have shown their guts once again. Even when Sheva failed on his penalty, Shovkovsky and the others came through.

The only thing I hope is that Sheva doesn’t get discouraged in the next game if some passes don’t find him. Even at AC Milan, many passes to him failed or were blocked. Why be so critical of your own teammates on the field. This can create a bad atmosphere, but I hope after such a hard-fought win when they were so nervous, the team will be more united than ever.

Shovkovsky is a genius!! Sheva has faded in extra time and penalties before….not too smart there! But he tried very hard for 90 minutes and kept the Swiss defense honest.

ON TO ITALY!! Given how their friendly went, the presence of Shevchenko and fine-tuning by Lippi and Blokhin might decide the game.

Andriy G

Whats with all the haters here?

Congratulations Ukraine!
I hope the rest of Australia will be behind us against Italy!

This should be a fantastic game, all the haters can go away

UK-RA-YI-NA !!

p.s. Anyone going to federation square to watch this? lols.

vlad

People under estimate the little guys …..Pray For Ukraine to Win ANd we WILL Beat ItalY the Underdog will pervil !!!

^^^ukRaine^^^

pwnawannab

Hahah YKPAIHA!!! Great Job - after so many of us did not believe in you - turned out such a miracle first run. Good luck in quarter finals.
I am going to forget about pasta for several days - it’s pelmeni until Friday!!!

Go Ukraine!!!

Travis

Sigh, idiots never cease to exist, this is a bloody sport so get a life and live with it, ukraine made it to the quarterfinals just as well as italy did, in fact, i think the australians should have been against us instead of italy because Australia was clearly dominating italy but of course the refs bail them out in the last 5 seconds because oh guess what, italy player trips purposely on his own foot?? OMG and look, shevchenko had some initial pushing on him before he went down, so the way i see it you people saying italy is soo good, i believe we are even so just sit back and wait till after the game to say i told you so! And then i may accept what you say!

Yuri

It was wonderful! Our team is in the quater finals!!! Incredible achievment!!! Congratulations!!!

UK-RA-YI-NA !!

That is the message everyone on the team understands. Blokhin was simply not impressed with that victory over Tunisia. Rebrov recently said “Our performance against Tunisia wasn’t good enough to be completely honest”. I don’t know what is going on with our team sometimes. One day they get destroyed, the next day they bring it and the third day they play like a team that shouldn’t even be in the World Cup. We all were disapointed in their last match and now we are biting our nails hoping to beat Switzerland. Why is that ? If somebody told us a month ago that we were to play Switzerland in the Round of 16, we’d be so confident that our boys will handle them easily. Yet the Ukraine that has been showing up on the pitch is not the Ukraine we all have come to know in the recent months. We can discuss all the bad strategical moves the team has made, how our defense lacks or offense is not doing its job, or midfield is not moving up. It seems that Ukraine just needs to get their head into the game and play their asses off, listen to the coach’s orders, play as one unit, do not get nervous and just give it their 150%. If Ukraine puts up the fight they are capable of, yes, we will beat Switzerland. No more nonesense at this point.