Ukraine: More than a One Man Show

When you think of Ukrainian football the one name that immediately comes to mind is Andriy Shevchenko. The AC Milan star has been one of the most lethal strikers in Europe the past few years and he will surely be the focus of attention for Ukraine’s opponents in this year’s World Cup.

As talented as Shevchenko is, he is not the only threat on a Ukraine team that finished first in a qualifying group that included Turkey, Greece and Denmark. Ukraine is led by its coach Oleg Blokhin, a legend in Soviet football. Blokhin draws from a talent pool that mainly comes from Ukraine’s domestic league and favors an aggressive, attacking style of play.

Alexei Belik, Andrei Vorobey (both Shakhtar), Andrei Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen) and Oleg Venglinksy (AEK Athens) are all competing to join Shevchenko up front.

The midfield is anchored by Dynamo Kiev’s Ruslan Rotan and Andrei Gusin who plays for Samara in Russia. The backline is centered around Dnepropetrovsk’s Andrey Rusol, a young player who may be the Ukrainian with the most to gain from a breakout World Cup performance.

Ukraine’s was drawn into a favorable group that features Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Even though Spain is the group’s top seed, I think Ukraine’s talent and qualifying form makes it the top choice in the group. Anything beyond that, however, would be a surprise but with a scorer like Shevchenko in place anything could happen.