Amongst the other teams to get eliminated at the Quarter Finals…

Zidane will have retired by Euro 2008, so that should help.

Posted from  United States

The Brazil and Argentina teams were let down by their coaches who made poor decisions about subsitution and experimenting with players.

Jose Pakerman of Arg did not field Lionel Messi, the most remarkable young attacking player in this world cup, and substituted Riqualme when the game was still in Argentina’s pocket.

Carlos Pereirra, coach of Brazil, destroyed Brazil’s chances by taking a defensive approach and not fielding 2 strikers. Rubinho, the talented striker did not start the match beside Ronaldo and was brought in as a substitute too late in the game. Brazil has a weak defence and the coach still went for a defensive team composition rather than attacking France and putting pressure on them.

Germany and France won, because the rival coaches decided to keep their best attacking options on the bench. Time and again lousy coaches with defensive tactics have kept fine players like Romario, Baggio, Rye, Denilson on the bench in important matches and caused disappointing results for teams like Brazil and Italy. The same story was repeated

Posted from  United States

Well, 2 teams get qualified, there will be no playoff stage in euro 2008 qualification.

France and Italy will also have to play each other, and this will help alot

alex and rad|x have their points! Plus, I don’t think France and Italy are unbeatable. After this, Ukraine will have familiarised themselves more with Italy’s style of play; they couldn’t do this during the WC because Italy were underperforming in their previous matches and only pulled together properly after the Pessotto incident. Also, didn’t Ukraine play Italy in a friendly on June 2nd and hold them to a draw? I think nerves and bad luck got the better of Ukraine this round. Not to say that Italy aren’t a good team, but Ukraine have plenty more in them.

Posted from  United Kingdom

i agree, i think we still have a chance but damn! why italy and france. are there any other groups where there is three good teams?

Posted from  Canada

Well, we are actually drawn in a group with 4 good teams: US (Ukraine), Italy, France, Scotland.

If you look at other groups you will see that most of them have 3 good teams that will fight for qualification spots.

Posted from  United States

Well, france and italy better start worrying about us too.

Posted from  Canada

Guys why all the worry. Who thought that we couldve beat Turkey, 3-0? Who thought that we could not only tie Greece, the Euro champs, but also beat them? Zinadine and a couple of other key French players are retiring. I wont be suprised if some Italians go down the drain with this current scandal. WE HAVE A VERY GOOD CHANCE OF QUALIFIYING!
Y-KPA-I-HA!

Posted from  United States

True, I think we do have a good chance of qualifying. I think Ukraine has proven that already in this world cup.

Posted from  Canada

I think there’s a great chance, if Blokhin is able to build on the team that he’s got, and sticks with it up to qualification (and beyond!).

Lack of cohesion was a big problem, as people kept getting subbed off for injuries and suspensions. In particular, Rusol’s absence in the second half of the Italy game was devastating for the defence, IMHO. And if Milevskiy is going to feature in the side, then I feel he had better be put in sooner rather than later…

The two 2006 finalists will have to reshuffle *hugely* after Germany 06. Though I would love to see Ukraine go past them on pure dynamism, a slightly off-kilter France and Italy doesn’t hurt in the least!

Scotland and the US are wildcards, and should be treated with the appropriate caution.

Just my two cents. Peace all!

Posted from  United Kingdom

A good portion of the France team will no participate in the next Euro. It is only thanks to Zidane’s magick that the French are playing as well as they are. Remember their first couple of games. People thought the French team wouldn’t make it out of the group. Keep in mind all of the predictions for the semis and finals. i doubt anyone could have predicted Italy and Frace in the finals.

The Ukrainian team can qualify. Personally, I dont want to see Shevchenko play anymore. After watching a couple World Cup games with him, he seems useless. He is not running after the ball. He is just there. It is as if he is expecting everyone on the team to service him. I dont agree with that kind of football.

Ukraine has a wonderful, young team. They have to play as a team and not as a team + sheva. I think Blokhin could have done better. Well, he has done a great job getting the team to the quarter finals. But they could have gone further. Some of his decisions didn’t make sense to me.

Anyway, Ukraine has every chance to qualify for the Euro 2k8. Tough group means that we have to beat good teams. That is what will make them better players. One way or the other they will have to play strong teams. The opposition will only get stronger as Ukraine progresses in tournaments.

So bring it on. Our boys will show everyone how well they can play football.

Posted from  Canada

Ukraine need to add a creative central midfielder to the team; and play more directly.

Too often we gave the ball away quite cheaply in the middle when playing square balls.

And I was annoyed to see that from attacking throw-ins or attacking free-kicks, the ball would end up being passed back towards the half-way line.

Blokhin needs to be more positive with his tactics.

Sheva also needs a shot of adrenalin too, to spark some life into his ageing limbs. He struggled for form after his injury in Germany and hopefully he can do himself justice in Euro 2008.

Bravo Ukraine, the first step is done, history has been made, and now we can look to progress from here, IF the lessons are learned.

See you in Euro 2008!

Posted from  United Kingdom

“Personally, I dont want to see Shevchenko play anymore….”

I think Serhiy is right about Shevchenko not being recovered 100%; did you see him limping in the Italy game after one of his shots? There were also reports that he was walking gingerly on his left foot after the whole campaign. He still did show flashes of brilliance – for example, to attempt that header in the Switzerland game required a lot of courage; the Swiss defender was kicking full force only centimetres away. That clever play with Belik at the end of the Italy game, and that SOG freekick which would have confounded anyone but Buffon… those were class.

It’s been suggested that in his later years Sheva ought to drop back a little and be that creative player in between midfield and the prime striker. Kind of where Totti was playing in this tournament? Actually I often saw Sheva run deep into midfield to rescue the ball, but sadly there was never anyone with the initiative to get ahead of him and finish up. I think Kalinichenko tried a couple times, but he seemed a bit short of stamina in the heat. Voronin dared not come out of Sheva’s shadow (though in general he played valiantly), and Milevskiy was in dire need of more experience.

They have to play as a team and not as a team + sheva.

Agree fully. The key stumbling block may be the psychology of the players themselves. I actually heard that Blokhin glorified Sheva’s role less than the previous coaches, but I think it’s hard not to be in awe of someone so successful…

Posted from  United Kingdom

i think ukraine is a great team they just need to have more faith in themselves

Posted from  United States

PS i am ukranian

Posted from  United States

sasha….good for you

Posted from  Canada

More faith and maybe a changing of the guard at some positions. Shevchenko must quit whining when he doesn’t get the ball exactly where he wants it. Many of his “shots” and intended passes were worse than those of other players.

Posted from  United States

how far do you think ukraine will get in the next world cup?

Posted from  Canada

No-one can really say, but the signs are good! After all, there were some valuable young players integrated in the squad, like Rusol & Gusev, who will be at the peak of their powers in 2010. Some key players of the 2006 UNT will be on the other side of 30, but this by no means writes them off. And I trust talents like Milevskiy will have matured by then, become less reckless. The U-21 team are very promising indeed.

It’s unlikely that Gusin and Shovkovskiy will be part of the 2010 squad, but remember, there are 4 intervening years (encompassing Euro 2008) in which to pave the way, pass on the torch, as it were.

In any case I feel Ukraine is capable of nurturing future generations of players, and this World Cup has done a lot to inspire kids to work hard and dream of wearing the blue and yellow!

Posted from  United Kingdom