Shevchenko Downplays Ukraine’s Chances

Ease up on the expectations.

That is the message from captain Andriy Shevchenko, who says talk of Ukraine winning the World Cup are simply rubbish.

“You must set realistic targets for yourselves,” Shevchenko told a news conference on Monday. “Otherwise, you just put extra pressure on yourselves which doesn’t do you any good.”

Schevchenko’s comments are in stark contrast to those of his coach Oleg Blokhin, who said Ukraine would win the World Cup after his team finished first in its qualifying group. It turns out that Blokhin was practicing his stand up comedy routine when he made those remarks.

“You have to understand that our coach was joking when he said that we’re going to win the World Cup playing in our first finals,” says Shevchenko, who apparently doesn’t share his coach’s sense of humor. The 2004 European footballer of the year thinks advancing out of the first round would be a success.

I would normally agree. Except Ukraine is playing in a group with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, and anything less than a top two finish in that kind of crowd should clearly be labeled a disappointment.