Ukraine vs. Belarus Review

Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko did not sugarcoat his feelings about the team’s performance in Saturday’s match:

Belarus outplayed us in the midfield in the first half. Both our young and our experienced players performed below their abilities. We did not deserve the win, but fate saw it differently and I am not upset about that.

Scouts from Ukraine’s main Group Six rivals agreed with the assessment. “I came to see Ukraine play, but ended up watching Belarus,” said Croatia’s representative and former Georgia coach Ivo Shushak. “Ukraine played very poorly. Belarus was simply unlucky,” added Fabio Capello’s man at the match.

It was hard to draw a different conclusion after a match from which Ukraine took three points but little satisfaction. The 4-1-3-2 behaved more like a 5-3-2 that couldn’t get its wing backs going forward. The back four were rarely challenged by a Belarus side that refused to attack in numbers, but their passes lacked precision and put recipients under unnecessary pressure. The shortcomings of the Ukraine midfield were so glaring in the first half that they were bypassed entirely during offensive buildup in favor of the long ball up field. Only after Oleksandr Aliyev was introduced for the second half did we see any semblance of combination play among the mids. However all four players used in front of Anatoliy Tymoschuk were stretched when it came to tracking back on defense, leaving the captain to make the first challenge instead of doing the cleanup work on numerous occasions. It is hard to evaluate Ukraine’s strikers based on this match, as I cannot think of a single opportunity for them in front of goal. Equally as telling was that during many attacks, a center forward was the widest player on the pitch.

The Grades:

Andriy Pyatov, 5.5 Kept a clean sheet, but spilled several rebounds, and really struggled with his distribution. His place in the first team is far from secure.
Andriy Rusol, 5.5 Solid defensively, but guilty of some loose passes, and scuffed a free header on a second half corner kick.
Taras Mykhalyk, 6.0 Showed himself to be a reliable option in the center in the absense of Dmytro Chyhrynsky.
Vyacheslav Shevchuk, 6.0 Did well going forward on the flank, but his crosses need to be more accurate. Belarus never mounted any offense on his side of the field.
Hrygory Yarmash, 5.5 Nice long range effort in the closing minutes, but showed little else.
Tymoschuk, 6.0 Faultless as usual, but spent too much time on his half of the field. He needs better defensive work in front of him so he can pounce on loose balls and start the transition.
Serhiy Kravchenko, 5.0 Not well suited for the center midfield role he was asked to play, and Mykhaylichenko admitted as much. He will have better days.
Serhiy Nazarenko, 5.5 Disappeared for prolonged stretches, but came to life after Aliyev’s introduction. Showed good instincts in the final third, but unfortunately spent too little time there.
Maksym Kalynychenko, 5.5 Paid for Ukraine’s lackluster midfield play as he was taken off at halftime, but he should not have to shoulder the blame alone. Worked hard and had his moments in the first half.
Artem Milevskiy, 6.0 Showed that his skill, work rate, and mean streak belong in the first team. Did the heavy lifting holding up the ball for his teammates. Rolled his ankle but lasted another 15 minutes, and “is not definite, but will be preparing for Kazakhstan,” according to Mykhaylichenko.
Andriy Voronin, 5.0 Where Ukrianian attacks went to die, though not through lack of effort. Was either not on the same wavelength as his teammates or a step too slow during his 60 minutes.
Aliyev, 6.0 Made a statement of intent in his first appearance on the senior level. Belarus was not prepared for his quickness or aggression, and his play clearly lifted his teammates. Aliyev was reportedly not seeing eye to eye with Mykhaylichenko in the past, and himself referred to “an incident with the U-21 team two years ago” (would love to know what it was) as the reason he had not been called to the national team until now. But that appears to be behind him, and his future looks bright again.
Yevhen Seleznyov, 5.0 On the field for half an hour but never got into the match.
Andriy Shevchenko, 6.0 He came, he saw, he scored. The Sheva of Ballon d’Or fame is gone and not coming back, but he still deserves consideration as Ukraine’s first team striker.

Mykhaylichenko ended his post game comments with praise for his substitutes:

We were able to turn the tide thanks to the will and the individual talent of the players who came on in the second half. Aliyev and Shevchenko strengthened our game.

Hopefully this endorsement will be supplemented by a place in the first team for the attacking duo.

Fox Soccer Channel carried this match on delay, and will be replaying it throughout the week, so if you missed it or feel like punishing yourself and live in the U.S., go check FSC’s listings for broadcast times. If you would rather not endure 93 minutes of frustration and just want to see how the points were won, then watch this clip: