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.

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.