An in depth look at our last game

I read an interview with Shevchenko today and it reconfirmed for me that his heart is in the right place. He said that his pride as a Ukrainian was more important to him than the points they picked up from the win. (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060619/1/7wh7.html)

Every game Ukraine plays they must learn something, pay attention to their weaknesses and improve on them, but also address their strengths to emphasize on them. So what have we learned ?

THE BAD

- Andriy Nesmachniy – this was probably the best hustler in the defensive area, he went at the ball every time with a mission to get it back. Problem is that he was too rough too often. He received a yellow card and could have received another with another ref. He needs to keep it clean for the next game or else he’ll put us one man down. This is definitely a great player in our defense.

- Vyacheslav Sviderskiy – WHO ? Exactly. He was put on the pitch in replacement of Vaschuk. I don’t know about you guys, but he seemed to be the most absent player in this game. The first time I heard his name is when he earned us a yellow card. He probably will be taking a seat for the next game since Vaschuk will be back, and rightfully so. Thanks for showing up Sviderskiy, now keep that bench warm.

- Andriy Voronin – I love this guy, I thought he was the only good thing in the Spain game and this game around, he created so many oportunities for himself, so many attempts and……….. he wasnt able to capitalize. Voronin seems like he has some mini anxiety attacks when he gets too close to scoring a goal, this man easily had a chance to score 2 goals, but was unable to finish.

- DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE, I hope this aspect of the game improves with the return of Vaschuk. I hope they put in Chigrynskiy or Yatsenko. What I saw was a weak defense, all over the place, unorganized. Saudi Arabia did not achieve 0 goals because of our spectacular defense, they achived 0 goals because they were giving up, cold, wet and maybe because of our spectacular goaltender. Shovkovskiy will have a lot of work to do against Tunisia if this aspect of our team doesn’t get it together.

- Strikers need to quit tripping over themselves and learn to cease every moment they get. This went for not only Voronin but also Shevchenko and some other midfielders.

THE GOOD

- Maksym Kalinchenko – I don’t know where his sudden eye of a hawk came from, but it was fantastic. This man needs to produce more of that goodness from the corners and free kicks, never change a good thing, start him again.

- Serhiy Rebrov – The man has a foot, that goal of his was one of the best i’ve seen in this tournament, I think even he was surprised that went in. One of the best things Blokhin did was start him and put him up with Shevchenko, this can be the start of a beautiful relationship. Sheva and Rebrov up front, Voronin right behind them, dangerous combination.

- Team play – With the exeption of 1 or 2 players, this was a team effort, no selfish plays here. Sheva proved this with his perfect pass to Kalinchenko. Ukraine prospers when they play as one unit, this is their strength, this is their power.

- Attitude – The men went into it with a good attitude, gave it their 150%, constantly hustled. After their 4-0 loss to Spain they got a wake up call, the cry was heard, “you embarassed Ukraine, you embarassed your people”, they began to understand what their purpose at the World Cup is, to represent your nation and make it proud.

LUCK

I dont believe in luck, I dont believe in one team winning over another because of ‘luck’. However, luck can contribute to the game and lean things a little bit to your adventage.

Rain – Lets face it, the Saudi’s are not used to rain, Ukraine gets rained on every 3rd day in the summer, rain is our home and we got some of it. They can’t relly on rain for next game and need to learn to play in the heat.

Goaltending – I would say the Saudi goaltender was having a pretty rough game, we got to play practically in front of an empty net. If I were the Saudi coach I would have changed the goalie at half time, we won’t be this lucky against Tunisia.

Referee – We got a great ref, he was smart, observant and used common sense. There were a few close calls there where any other ref would have called a yellow on us. They need to not only keep it cleaner, but make it look clean from the naked eye, because although I saw how certain fouls did not deserve a card AFTER I watched the video replay, I was impressed how observant this referee was to see it right away, refs like this are rare, watch those cards.

those are my 2 cents, now tell me where I’m wrong